Kim Clijsters wins first match after comeback.


Kim Clijsters

By Etienne Stekelenburg
September 29 2004

Belgian Kim Clijsters defeats Czech Iveta Benesova in two sets 7-6 (3), 6-2. Her first match after her injury recovery turned out satisfactory. “It was good to be back on court, I was nervous at the start but also very happy to win the first match”, Clijsters said after the match.

Clijsters started out as if she was going to hammer Benesova, hitting an ace on her very first serve, winning on love and breaking the Czechs first service. The ex No.1 from Bree was leading 4-1 before she started to hit errors. 

 

At 4-2 Benesova breaks Clijsters who hits a double fault, hits the ball long and wide before hitting a second double fault on 0-40. At 4-3 the Czech is ties for 4 all. Both players hold serve and the tiebreak at 6 all needs to force the decision.

 

 

Clijsters leads 5-2, Benesova hits one more point for 5-3 and Clijsters finished scoring another two points for 7-3.

 

The second set showed that Kim Clijsters had overcome her nerves and took all the chances to score the points. Benesova had no chance to come back after losing the tiebreak. Clijsters moved forward and was leading 5-2 before she could finish her first match after her injury recovery.

 

After 1 hour and 21 minutes of play Kim Clijsters secured her victory 7-6 (3), 6-2 in Hasselt where she will very likely be the tournament director for the future.

 

 

“I was hitting more errors with my forehand than with my backhand. We need to work more on that”, Clijsters said about how she felt about her comeback. “I was very motivated to start at Hasselt and I am glad to be back on the tour. It's good to hang around with the girls again on the tour. I am not as consistent as I want to be but that will come after I played more matches”.

 

“I was busy during my recovery, I could do everything as long as I didn’t use my wrist too much. I did miss the competition as well. I don’t know when my level will be back to normal, I don’t have a crystal ball. I don’t hit as hard as I used to hit but I don’t fear hitting the ball, we did everything in practice to find out what could be done and what not.”

 

“I hope to play five more tournaments and practice for next season” Clijsters said about her plans in the future. 

 

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