Clijsters’ US return fizzles in round one

TENNIS

NEW YORK: Threetime champion Kim Clijsters fell at the first hurdle in her second comeback at the US Open yesterday when Ekaterina Alexandrova rallied for a 36, 75, 61 victory to reach the second round.

The Belgian made a blistering start to her first singles match at Flushing Meadows for eight years but was ultimately well beaten by the Russian 21st seed.

Clijsters, who missed last week's Western & Southern Open with an abdominal injury, left Alexandrova shaking her head in disbelief as she cruised through the opening set in little more than half an hour.

Alexandrova stood firm to level up the contest in a hardfought second stanza, however, and ran away with the third as the 37yearold mother of three faded on a cool evening.

Clijsters, who won two of her US Open titles after her first comeback in 2009, is still without a win since coming out of retirement for the second time in February but was keen to focus on the positives.

‘‘Out of the three matches I have played officially on tour, I think this by far was my best one,’’ she said.

‘‘I think you look at a loss in a little bit more of a mature way in a sense than maybe 10 years ago.’’

For an hour on court 17, however, a victory for the Belgian looked very much on the cards.

Twentyone years after her US Open debut and 15 since she first won the title, Clijsters stalked the court with the impatience of a champion and sent back with interest pretty much everything that Alexandrova fired at her.

The 25yearold had to fight hard to keep Clijsters at bay in the second set as well, but bided her time before pouncing to send the contest into a decider.

Clijsters found the energy for a last hurrah with a break of service to open the third set but it was to be her last game win as Alexandrova rattled off six straight to set up a secondround meeting with American Catherine McNally.

Serena Williams (38) began her charge towards a recordequalling 24th grand slam title by getting past fellow American Kristie Ahn 75, 63.

Williams, bidding for her first major title since 2017 and to equal Margaret Court’s overall record, lacked rhythm and showed nerves but still proved too good for Ahn. She will take on Margarita Gasparyan of Russia next.

Joining her in the next round was Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who produced a dominant display to dispatch Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 62, 62.

It was the end of the road for twice US Open champion Venus Williams, who sustained her first openinground loss at the tournament with a 63, 75 defeat by Karolina Muchova.

Former champion Andy Murray battled back from two sets down to overcome Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 46, 46, 76 (5), 76 (4), 64 on his return to grand slam singles action.

The 33yearold Briton recovered from a break down in the third set and saved a match point in the fourth to beat Nishioka in 4hr 38min. — Reuters