Kim Clijsters lost the first match of her much-awaited return to competitive tennis to Garbine Muguruza but not before offering a sterling fight in the second set.
[the_ad id=”24055″]
Clijsters, down a set and two breaks of serve in the second, rewound the years to break Muguruza back twice and took the set into a tie-breaker. Even there, down 4-2, she fought back to keep within touching distance of her Spanish opponent but the ninth seeded Muguruza proved to be too good in the end and wrapped up the match 6-2, 7-6 (6).
The Australian Open runner-up, who was playing in her first match since that final in Melbourne, got off the blocks quite quickly as he broke the Belgian veteran in the very first game of the opening set.
Muguruza then had bit of an issue holding serve with Clijsters taking her to 40-30 but the Spaniard held on to double her lead. This was followed by Clijsters finally winning her first match on return to tennis, doing it with an easy hold as the adrenaline started to return and the nerves began to recede.
Clijsters looked she was putting some pressure on the two-time Grand Slam winner’s serve in the fourth game but Muguruza came through unscathed to go 3-1 up. She had another break-point to take a 4-1 lead but Clijsters saved that and moved quickly to seal the game. A second break of serve at that time would have crashed her hopes quite early.
There was another easy hold that followed for Muguruza, and she then quickly moved to get three more break-points on the Belgian’s serve. Clijsters saved two of those three but off the third Muguruza cashed in to set up a 5-2 lead in the set.
[the_ad id=”14063″]
Needing to serve out the set, it was Clijsters’ turn now to get herself three break-points as Muguruza fell to 0-40 in the eighth game. Unlike her opponent, however, she came back to save all three of them and then the next two as well to clinch the set 6-2.
The second set started in a similar manner as the first, as Muguruza got a break of serve in the first game of the set. She went 2-0 up with an easy hold and then had an opportunity to break Clijsters yet again in the third game. Clijsters staved off a few break-points but Muguruza had the last laugh as she went two breaks up and 3-0 in the second.
Just when it seemed like the match was slipping away in a hurry, Clijsters got another opening to register her first break of the match as well. And this time she didn’t let go, as she broke Muguruza to love and narrowed her lead down to 3-1 before garnering another hold in the fifth game.
Clijsters pushed Muguruza to 30 in the next game but failed to level the set with her second successive break but after holding on to her serve in the seventh game, she took the first opportunity she got to break the Spaniard yet again to level things off at 4-4.
Muguruza had multiple chances to break again in the ninth but the six-time Gran Slam winner held on to her nerves and for the first time in the match, carved out a lead, going ahead 5-4. The Spaniard, serving to stay in the set did so with ease and while Clijsters responded in kind to go 6-5 up, Muguruza held to love to take the set into a tie-breaker.
An early mini-break for Clijsters was quickly nullified by Muguruza and she then took control with one of her own. The Belgian wasn’t done though and with Muguruza serving at 5-4, she got that mini-break back before the Spaniard got her first match-point. Clijsters saved that one but her opponent soon had another which she converted to win the match in straight sets.
Be the first to comment