Clijsters Shows No Mercy
Clijsters Shows No Mercy
Monday, June 30, 2003
Kim Clijsters has become used to romping through her matches - as illustrated
by the seven games she conceded in her three opening rounds. Ai Sugiyama, on
the other hand, is used to grinding out her victories, resulting in today's
interesting clash when the two met on Court One.
And, to add an extra dimension to the day's encounter, the two are doubles
partners and both have won against each other on three occasions.
This time, their first meeting on grass, proved to be Clijsters' day as she
progressed into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 victory. But her friend
did not roll over, giving the second seed a good workout which she no doubt
will have found useful as she prepares for the tougher matches expected later
in the week.
The Belgian world No. 2 set off as if she had a train to catch, intent on
getting back to the locker room as quickly as possible before any further
rain arrived. The bad weather having marred the morning and delayed the start
of many of the outer courts.
Storming into a 5-1 lead she looked well set to emulate her previous scores,
having fended off a break point in the fifth game with two aces. But her run
was brought to a halt by some tenacious play from the experienced Japanese
27-year-old, who was able to apply enough pressure to force errors off the
big Clijsters' groundstrokes and prevent her claiming the opening set at the
first time of asking.
Watched by her boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt, Clijsters regrouped and served out
comfortably a few minutes later and then maintained her control over the match
by breaking in the fifth and seventh games to claim her place in the last
eight after just 49 minutes.
With that victory, Clijsters equalled her best run at Wimbledon in her fourth
appearance at these Championships, but the 20-year-old should improve on that
record when she meets the 27th seed Silvia Farina Elia of Italy in the next
round.
Looking ahead, Clijsters believes her match against the Italian will be
interesting. "Farina Elia is the type of player that likes to mix it up.
With her slice she can keeps the ball very low; she moves well and is very fit.
"
Reflecting on the speed of her wins to date, she maintained that it all helps
her confidence as she was serving well and quickly establishing a rhythm.
"The quicker the matches when you are playing well, the better," she stated and
agreed that she was aware of the possibility of rain interrupting matches.
"Jennifer finished her match while it was raining, but I think everyone, the
Williamses Serena and Venus all finished before the rains came. Everyone did
it quick.
"Today I had some great rallies, a lot of long rallies which was nice.
I really enjoyed it out there."
Sugiyama was quick to admit that she had faced a strong opponent though she
felt she hadn't started very well. "She played really good, especially on the
crucial points. She took her chances and it was very hard to keep up.
My serve wasn't going well so it was kind of hard for me to attack."
Written by Henry Wancke
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※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw)
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