Clijsters Hoists The Australian Open Trophy
Clijsters stun Li Na to grab her first Aussie trophy
Clijsters never goes into crisis. The 27-year-old Belgian has finally done it. She claimed her first Aussie trophy after stunning stubborn beautiful-smiley Li Na in a two-set comeback.
The former world champion beat this year’s Sydney winner 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to grab her fourth grand-slam trophy – seventh major – in career. Kim Clijsters managed to come from one set down to overcome the versatile Chinese in the last two. Li Na, who tried to become the first Chinese to win the Aussie title, claimed the first set after breaking the Belgian three times. Clijsters went 2-0 at one point but only to be broken back in the third, seventh and ninth game. The match would include… 13 break-points.
The second set saw the main favorite showing her high-class. Clijsters would win four break-points within it. More exactly, the first four games found the two players claiming two break-points each. But it was Clisjters to leave the Chinese three games behind to level the set-score to one. That was also the moment the Belgian started to look morelike herself, morelike a real champion.
Li Na’s slow third-set start cost her a lot. Clijsters went 4-1 following two break –points, not to allow the Chinese come back anymore. Li Na kept committing plenty of unforced errors, while the Belgian was simply doing her job perfectly. Clijsters hit 22 winners, Li Na 24. But still, there were the unforced errors that stopped her from at least holding the strong Belgian.
“I’m a little shaky still, but first of all congratulations to Li Na. I’ve played so many matches against her, she’s definitely a very tough competitor, she had a great effort these last two weeks, so hopefully a few more Grand Slam finals together would be nice,” said Clijsters holding the trophy tight.
She would thank and dedicate the trophy to a very cramped supporting box that included her uncle, manager, husband, coach, fitness-trainer and two junior champions, but also to an unknown Aussie dentist that made her teeth look blinding-bright.
On the other side, Li Na ended her speech with a love statement: “Thanks for the sponsor, and two thing, the guy in the yellow t-shirt, I make a lot of jokes for him, doesn’t matter if you are fat or skinny or handsome or ugly, I always follow you, I always love you.”
Kim Clijsters is to pocket $2,200,000, while Na Li will leave Melbourne with a $1,100,000 check.
