Clijsters cruises in front of packed home crowd

Chakvetadze escapes; Golovin survives four match points

FROM THE PROXIMUS DIAMOND GAMES IN ANTWERP – The Belgian farewell tour started for Kim Clijsters in front of an emotional crowd of 14,000 with an opponent unprepared for the occasion.

Clijsters could not have wished for an easier foe than Russian Olga Poutchkova, who was clearly affected by the highly-charged atmosphere. The promising Russian could not put a ball in court and, after merely 45 minutes of play, Clijsters had booked her spot in the quarterfinals following an easy 6-0, 6-2 win.

Even though the second seed won the first eight points of the match, she said she was feeling nervous.

“I was more nervous than usual," Clijsters, who is retiring at the end of this year, said. "It’s really special to be playing in this atmosphere. You walk to the court, knowing all these people will be there. It was pretty overwhelming when I got out there.”

Before the match, the well-known Belgian band Clouseau performed on centre court. “I heard them perform and that was really emotional for me," she said. "I have been a fan of them since I was a kid. I tried not to really think about it because otherwise it would have been too much for me.”

Looking back on the match, Clijsters felt good about her performance. “I played well. I want to thank everyone for their support and am really happy I’ll be able to come out here again on Friday.”

Ana Ivanovic defeated lucky loser Anastasia Yakimova of Belarus 6-3, 6-2. The fifth-seed Serbian dropped serve early on to go 3-1 down, but was not genuinely challenged by No. 59 Yakimova.

Anna Chakvetadze survived a scare against red-hot Austrian Sybille Bammer, when she fought back from one set down to advance to the quarterfinals, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.

In the first game of the match Chakvetadze went up 15-40, but could not convert the early break points. Both women went on to hold comfortably until Bammer forced a set point on the Chakvetadze serve at 5-4.

The 19-year-old Russian was inconsistent and hit numerous unforced errors. Bammer, who just won the Pattaya City tournament last week, played a steady baseline game and just waited for Chakvetadze to make the mistake in the rally. This is exactly what happened on set point for the Austrian, and suddenly the No. 12 player was down a set.

In the opening game of the second set, Chakvetadze again took a 15-40 lead on the Bammer serve but this time pounced on the break point and cruised to 5-2. Surprisingly, the double break of serve was not enough for Anna to make it one set a piece. She started hitting unforced errors again which enabled Bammer to take the set to a tiebreak.

At this point, Chakvetadze stepped it up a notch and played a solid breaker to even up the match. In the final set she raced out to a 5-0 lead before closing out the match 6-2.

The last match of the day session could well turn out to become the best contest of the tournament. Tatiana Golovin upset fifth-seed Patty Schnyder after 2 hours and 37 minutes in a roller-coaster encounter. However, things could have ended a lot earlier.
Schnyder won the first set in the tiebreak and took a 3-0 lead in the second. Just when Golovin looked down and out, the Frenchwoman regrouped and won eight straight points to get back to 3-3.

With Golovin serving at 5-6, Schnyder created her first match points. Golovin would not give in, until she apparantly missed a backhand down the line on the fourth match point. Schnyder could not believe the ball was called good, but the point went to Golovin and she held serve for a tiebreak.

At 5-5, Golovin played a solid point on her own serve for a chance to send the match into a final set. Schnyder reached out a helping hand when she dumped an easy forehand into the net.

In the first games of the third set, the Swiss wasted five break points before seeing her opponent pouncing on her first break opportunity to go up 4-2.

It turned out to be the final blow for Schnyder, losing her last service game at 2-5 on love.
Wednesday’s schedule ended when Dinara Safina defeated Michaella Krajicek of The Netherlands 6-2, 7-6(4) for a possible meeting with top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo in the quarters.