MELBOURNE, Australia - There aren't many things Kim Clijsters has left to do in her career, but she achieved a new one Tuesday. The 28-year-old scored her first win over a reigning World No.1 at a Grand Slam, closing out Caroline Wozniacki in a tight second set finish in the Australian Open quarterfinals.
Clijsters, who already had five wins over No.1s but had been 0-5 against them at majors, was in complete control of the match from the start, dictating just about every point with her huge groundstrokes, cracking several of the rallies open with her trademark angles and down-the-lines - she soon found herself leading 63 52.
A few errors off the Clijsters racquet gave Wozniacki a slight opportunity and she grabbed it, her rock solid ground game drawing mistake after mistake from the Belgian as the scoreline got tighter and tighter. Wozniacki would push the set to a tie-break and stayed even through 4-all, but Clijsters had one last burst left, hitting three straight winners - one off the backhand, one off the forehand then a volley - to close out the Rod Laver Arena roller coaster, 63 76(4).
"She stepped up her game," Clijsters said. "We both played a really good tie-breaker. I mean, no unforced errors. We really went for our shots and served and returned so well. It was just important to stay focused, one point at a time, and whenever you felt like you could go for that winner, just try and do it."
Clijsters was asked about the second-to-last point, where she hit a big forehand winner. "I was happy with the way I hit that one. That was an important point.
"I really just tried to hit a Nadal forehand. I just had to go for it. I had a good look on it. I felt like it was sitting right up there, and I could really rip it inside out."
"Kim started off really strong. She put pressure on me from the beginning," Wozniacki said. "I made a few unforced errors and she ran away a bit in the first set. But I hung in there and kept fighting. I did what I could, but today it wasn't enough. Obviously it's never fun to lose, but you learn more from your losses than you do from your wins. I'll keep working hard and come back better."
For Wozniacki, the loss not only means she is out of the tournament, it also means she will surrender her No.1 ranking next Monday - in fact she will fall to at least No.3 (Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka will be ranked ahead of her, and Maria Sharapova could be too, depending on the week's results).
"To be honest, I don't really think about it," Wozniacki said of No.1. "I have been there for a long time already. I finished No.1 two years in a row. At the end of the year we'll see who played the best throughout the year. We're just in January. I will get it back eventually, so I'm not really worried right now."
"Caroline is great for the game," Clijsters said. "She's a great player. She has really good people around her who tell her not to listen to all the stuff that's being said in the media room or around her. It's all a matter of experience and improving and trying to learn from losses and become better every Slam.
"She'll definitely get there."
Clijsters' previous losses to No.1s at majors came in the 2002 Australian Open semifinals (to Jennifer Capriati), the 2003 Australian Open semifinals (to Serena Williams), the 2004 Australian Open final (to Justine Henin), and in the fourth round of the French Open and Wimbledon in 2005 (both to Lindsay Davenport). Clijsters pushed all five of those matches to three sets.
Azarenka won her quarterfinal match earlier (read more about it here) and will play Clijsters in the semifinals on Thursday. Clijsters leads Azarenka in their head-to-head series, 4-2, although Azarenka won their last meeting.
