A 20-year-old wild card, Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, took out No. 2 seed, Kim Clijsters of Belgium Thursday in the 2nd round of the French Open, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
In the biggest win of her career, Rus scored on 7 of 13 break points, while Clijsters converted only 5 of 17 break point chances.
Clijsters injured her right ankle badly offcourt in April and had not played since then. However, she said her ankle was fine in the match.
After the match, Rus said “This is for sure my biggest win.
Clijsters had this comment: “I felt kind of in control, I felt like I was she was missing quite a lot in the beginning of the rallies, and I felt that I was moving [Arantxa] around well from side to side. Then I started doubting a little bit. I think on clay is something that for me is definitely the wrong attitude to have…
“[Arantxa] obviously started building up more confidence, started playing a lot better and was really kind of putting me on my back foot all the time. I couldn’t really play my aggressive tennis anymore in that third set…
“I’m happy that I gave myself the opportunity [to play at Roland Garros this year]. It’s better to try than not to try. That’s kind of the attitude of a real loser. I gave it the best that I had and with my abilities that I had. So I definitely don’t regret it.”
In round three on Saturday, Rus will play No. 6 seed, Maria Kirilenko of Russia. They have never played before.
