Clijsters streaming steadily with cruise control to move into the third
Kim Clijsters milled Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1 6-3 to reach the third round of the 2011 Australian Open Thursday, January 20, 2011 at the Rod Laver Arena.
The world number three continued to make a tranquil advancement at the Australian Open after locking a place in the third round with the round two win.
The former world number one took just over an hour to highlight her title credentials. Clijsters concluded with a fierce forehand to the 62nd-ranked challenger making it improbable to handle. This took her another
step forth towards a title for which she is one in the favorites.
The Belgian, seeded number three, took down Dinara Safina 6-0 6-0 in just 44 minutes to rout her first match in Melbourne and the early phase against Suarez Navarro in the round two match were equally one-sided finally
rapping up in just over an hour mark.
Clijsters came out sacking and an errant forehand from her opponent handed her an early break with a 3-1 lead. That quickly turned to a 5-1 lead when Clijsters broke again before wrapping up the first set in a quick
22 minutes time.
The anxiety was in total too much for the Spaniard as she rallied in the second set but the US Open champion persisted to control and swiftly built a 3-0 lead. Navarro was basically outplayed till she finally hit
back to break and then cling to at least present Clijsters with something to think about.
But she gained pace back again pretty quickly, breaking yet again to wrap up the second set in another 40 minutes and finally the match ended in just over an hour time.
“I was happy with the way I played, I tried to play inside the court and dictate the points and it worked,” Clijsters said.
The beaten finalist in Sydney, Clijsters built-up this year’s first major anguishing Suarez Navarro. She did her best to battle desperately to turn the tide against the Belgian but all her efforts went in vain as
she muttered angrily to herself and disappointingly in direction of her coach.
Dressed in green, the 27-year old Belgian cracked 21 winners in response to six from Navarro in pursuit of her first Australian Open title. Clijsters moved around the court with utter flexibility and break winners
from the ground to elegantly seize the match away from Navarro.
Although she prove to be a strong striker of the ball, but the resistance was left supremely unaware for her near-stoic peripheral expression.
Clijsters, will now face the French-woman Alize Cornet in the next round match-up.