Cool Clijsters triumphant in battle of the Belgians

Kim Clijsters was triumphant in the much-anticipated battle of the Belgians as she beat her long-time rival and countrywoman Justine Henin 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final appointment with Vera Zvonareva and keep alive her dream of a title-winning return to Wimbledon. 

It was the 25th time the two women had met and, as she had in their previous two encounters since both women emerged from retirement, Clijsters was the dominant force.

It was anything but a classic: Henin was very good in the opening set as Clijsters seemed tight and nervous; Clijsters was far more controlled in the second set and by the third, Henin could not cope with her rival's power and accuracy.

There were far too many errors from the US Open champion in that opening set. Her normally powerful baseline game was misfiring and she could barely land a forehand in the court. At the same time, Henin was serving well and trying to make her way to the net if she could.

Telling herself to concentrate on the point in front of her in the second set, Clijsters started to work her way back. She has always been bigger and stronger than her diminutive rival, but there have been times when her nerves have not allowed her to prove it. This time, she took it one point at a time and slowly but surely started to reel Henin in.

Henin had taken a tumble in the opening set and appeared to hurt her elbow. In all she had three bouts of massage on the sore and tender joint but it was not the injury that was hurting her, it was the sheer force and accuracy of Clijsters's shot-making that was causing the damage.

It took an hour before the match started to come to life. Until then, it had been a lopsided affair but, at last, both women started to play well at the same time. Even so, it was not enough to give Henin a chance of reaching the last eight.

For all that she served well - five aces in all - and was trying to play a more typical grass court game, Henin could not find a way to repel Clijsters's relentless baseline attack. Eventually, Clijsters got the breakthrough she needed in the eighth game of that third set and went on to serve out the match.

It had taken 88 minutes in all and when Clijsters looks at the match statistics, she ought to feel quietly confident as she goes into the next round. There may have been a few too many errors for comfort - 23 in all - but the majority of them were committed in the opening set. With 22 winners and even a handful of forays to the net to her credit, she is clearly playing well. And with a 5-0 winning record over Zvonareva, including two wins on grass, Clijsters must fancy her chances of reaching the last four and keeping that Wimbledon title dream alive.

Source: www.wimbledon.org