Clijsters shatters Chinese dream
Source: Agencies |
January 30, 2011, Sunday
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Print Edition
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KIM Clijsters drew on her huge wealth of experience to ride out a Li Na storm and claim her maiden Australian Open title yesterday by shattering China's dream of a first grand slam champion.
The Belgian battled back after dropping the first set to beat Li 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in an intense final and win her fourth major title, her third since her return from retirement and a first outside the US Open.
The girl, who Australians had taken to their hearts when she was romantically involved with Lleyton Hewitt, had returned a woman and a mother and she basked, teary-eyed, in the warm applause from the center court crowd.
"Now I feel you guys can call me 'Aussie Kim' because I won the title," said Clijsters, who lost the 2004 final.
Her triumph had looked unlikely when Li, Asia's first finalist in any of the sport's four majors, overcame her customary poor start to dominate most of the first two sets and genuinely rattle the tournament favorite.
Where the younger Clijsters might have crumbled, however, she now merely made subtle adjustments to her game to knock the powerful Li off her stride and in the deciding set it was the Chinese whose mental frailties betrayed her.
The 27-year-old Clijsters rattled through the third set in just over half an hour before claiming victory when Li slapped a forehand into the net for her 40th unforced error of the two hour five minute contest.
"It was such an intense match," Clijsters added, explaining her tears. "I don't think I had that in one of the grand slams where I've won. To win it in this way means it a lot.
"I think it's that moment that overwhelms you, where your mind has been so focused, I'm fighting every shot, running a lot of balls down, and it's finished. That's what makes it just nice, and I guess this big relief."
Hundreds of millions of Li's compatriots were watching the match on television back home in China but Li started to find the attentions of the few who were in the stadium an irritant.
Fed up with boisterous shouts from Chinese fans during the tense second set, Li marched to the chair umpire after being broken at 3-3 and told her: "Can you tell the Chinese, don't teach me how to play tennis?"
"There were a lot of people coaching me," she told Chinese reporters later. "It was really loud and it wasn't just one direction, it was from all sides.
"I think Chinese people watching tennis can't be polite ... (saying) 'Take her out!' and other things.
"When they were calling out things it was during returns, so I felt" - and here she inhaled sharply - "so tired!"
The outburst was reminiscent of her moment during her semifinal against Russia's Dinara Safina at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when she told the local crowd to "shut up".
Having lost her rag during the match, Li regained her sense of humor at the presentation ceremony and was all smiles as she thanked her team and wished fans a happy Chinese new year.
"The man in the yellow shirt is my husband," she said, acknowledging Jiang Shan, her university sweetheart, in the stand.
"It doesn't matter if you are fat or skinny or ugly, I always love you," she said to roars of laughter from the crowd.
Li denied she had suffered from nerves in the match, but conceded Clijsters's experience in eight grand slam finals had proved telling in her own major final debut.
"If you haven't got that experience, if you come across some problems, you can't get out of them that easily," she said. "It's not that there's no way out, it's because you don't know how to find a way out."
Despite the defeat, Li's ranking will rise to a new Chinese record of seven.
In the men's doubles final, American twins Bob and Mike Bryan beat Indians Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes 6-3, 6-4 to clinch their 10th grand slam title.
The Belgian battled back after dropping the first set to beat Li 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in an intense final and win her fourth major title, her third since her return from retirement and a first outside the US Open.
The girl, who Australians had taken to their hearts when she was romantically involved with Lleyton Hewitt, had returned a woman and a mother and she basked, teary-eyed, in the warm applause from the center court crowd.
"Now I feel you guys can call me 'Aussie Kim' because I won the title," said Clijsters, who lost the 2004 final.
Her triumph had looked unlikely when Li, Asia's first finalist in any of the sport's four majors, overcame her customary poor start to dominate most of the first two sets and genuinely rattle the tournament favorite.
Where the younger Clijsters might have crumbled, however, she now merely made subtle adjustments to her game to knock the powerful Li off her stride and in the deciding set it was the Chinese whose mental frailties betrayed her.
The 27-year-old Clijsters rattled through the third set in just over half an hour before claiming victory when Li slapped a forehand into the net for her 40th unforced error of the two hour five minute contest.
"It was such an intense match," Clijsters added, explaining her tears. "I don't think I had that in one of the grand slams where I've won. To win it in this way means it a lot.
"I think it's that moment that overwhelms you, where your mind has been so focused, I'm fighting every shot, running a lot of balls down, and it's finished. That's what makes it just nice, and I guess this big relief."
Hundreds of millions of Li's compatriots were watching the match on television back home in China but Li started to find the attentions of the few who were in the stadium an irritant.
Fed up with boisterous shouts from Chinese fans during the tense second set, Li marched to the chair umpire after being broken at 3-3 and told her: "Can you tell the Chinese, don't teach me how to play tennis?"
"There were a lot of people coaching me," she told Chinese reporters later. "It was really loud and it wasn't just one direction, it was from all sides.
"I think Chinese people watching tennis can't be polite ... (saying) 'Take her out!' and other things.
"When they were calling out things it was during returns, so I felt" - and here she inhaled sharply - "so tired!"
The outburst was reminiscent of her moment during her semifinal against Russia's Dinara Safina at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when she told the local crowd to "shut up".
Having lost her rag during the match, Li regained her sense of humor at the presentation ceremony and was all smiles as she thanked her team and wished fans a happy Chinese new year.
"The man in the yellow shirt is my husband," she said, acknowledging Jiang Shan, her university sweetheart, in the stand.
"It doesn't matter if you are fat or skinny or ugly, I always love you," she said to roars of laughter from the crowd.
Li denied she had suffered from nerves in the match, but conceded Clijsters's experience in eight grand slam finals had proved telling in her own major final debut.
"If you haven't got that experience, if you come across some problems, you can't get out of them that easily," she said. "It's not that there's no way out, it's because you don't know how to find a way out."
Despite the defeat, Li's ranking will rise to a new Chinese record of seven.
In the men's doubles final, American twins Bob and Mike Bryan beat Indians Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes 6-3, 6-4 to clinch their 10th grand slam title.
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