In a clash of the Belgian comeback kids, Kim Clijsters showed that she has come back just a teeny tiny bit more than Justine Henin. It was a 2 1/2 hour, 3-set, 2-tie-breaker battle, with Clijsters prevailing 6-2, 6-7(3), 7-6(6) at the 2010 WTA Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida, USA.
Clijsters took command of the match early on, taking the first set 6-2, and leading 3-0 with a break point to go up 4-0. But she let Henin back in the set and lost the 2nd set tie-breaker 7-3. Henin then took a 2-0 lead in the 3rd set, but Clijsters won four straight games to take a 4-2 lead. Henin evened the score at 4-4, but Clijsters broke Henin for 5-4. With Clijsters serving for the match, Henin again broke serve to draw even at 5-5. Each player held serve sending the final set into another tie-breaker. Clijsters moved out to a 6-3 lead, triple match point, but Henin won three points to draw even at 6-6. Clijsters finally closed out the match, winning the final point on a forehand winner. That ended Henin’s hopes of reaching her third final of the year in her fourth tournament since coming out of retirement.
Clijsters was the more inconsistent of the two players, hitting 63 unforced errors against 37 winners on the night. Henin hit 44 unforced errors versus 19 winners.
Clijsters now leads their head-to-head “second career” competition 2-0, with the overall head-to-head series even at 12-12. Clijsters defeated Henin in January in Brisbane, Australia in another close 3-setter, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(6).
Clijsters will now face Venus Williams of the USA who easily defeated Marion Bartoli of France in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4 which lasted just one hour and 30 minutes. With that victory, Williams extended her wining streak to 15 matches.
