Clijsters trounces Stosur to enter final
Kim Clijsters took time to settle after a ''scary'' car crash on the way to her WTA Championships semifinal against Sam Stosur on Saturday but there was no stopping the Belgian when she clicked into top gear.
The 27-year-old US Open champion beat Australian Stosur 7-6, 6-1 to reach the final of the $4.55 million season-ending tournament in the Qatari capital.
“Samantha and I have had some really tough matches against one other throughout our whole careers so I knew that I had to be ready to come out here and try and play my best,” Clijsters said in a courtside interview.
“I played well at the important points and I think that's why I won the first set and then in the second set I felt maybe she dropped her game a little bit. I had an early chance to break, and I did, and that gave me a little bit more confidence to just try to serve it out every time.”
Clijsters, who said on her Twitter site that she was “very lucky” to escape unhurt from the crash, lost the opening three games of the first set and had to fight off a set point before eventually taking it in a tiebreak.
Stosur has enjoyed a breakthrough singles season, reaching the final of the French Open and rising to a career-high fifth in the world earlier this year, but the 26-year-old Brisbane native found Clijsters too hot to handle.
Producing some of her best tennis of the tournament, Clijsters raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set as Stosur wilted in the face of the Belgian's searing serve and consistent groundstrokes.
Clijsters broke to go 5-1 up with a sumptuous backhand down the line and she put the same weapon to good use in the final game, bludgeoning Stosur into the corners before sealing victory in a 26-minute second set.
