Clijsters Beats China’s Li Na in Three Sets to Win Australian Open Title

By Dan Baynes

Four months after leaving New York with her second straight U.S. Open title, Kim Clijsters conquered Melbourne in the latest major stop on her tennis comeback by winning her first Australian Open.

Clijsters, the No. 3 seed from Belgium, fought back from a set down to beat Li Na last night for her fourth Grand Slam title and first outside the U.S. Open. Ninth-seeded Li was trying to become China’s first singles champion at a major.

“I do enjoy this win, especially here in Australia,” Clijsters, 27, told reporters. “It’s been a country where I’ve always loved coming to and where I’ve always been very well received. It’s nice to finally get it this year.”

Clisters won 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to take her third title in five Grand Slam events since returning in August 2009 from a two-year break during which she gave birth to a daughter. She’s 7-1 in all finals in what she has described as her second career.

“I obviously never expected things to be going so well so quickly,” Clijsters added. “I thought it was going to take a little bit more time to get back into the rhythm or get back into my routine of traveling with a family and everything.”

Clijsters is the first woman to win back-to-back majors since Serena Williams at the 2008 U.S. Open and the 2009 Australian Open. She had lost four major finals before capturing the first of three U.S. Open championships in 2005.

She’ll pocket a record winner’s check of $A2.2 million ($2.2 million), lifting her career prize money to $23.5 million.

Chinese First

Li, who beat Clijsters two weeks ago to win the Sydney International, was the first Chinese player to compete in a Grand Slam singles final. She’ll rise to a career-high No. 7 on the WTA rankings when the new list is published tomorrow.

“She had more experience than me because she played many finals,” Li, 28, said in a news conference. “Hopefully next time if I play final, I do better.”

After taking the first set in 38 minutes, Li faded in the third set and also became increasingly agitated as the match wore on, complaining about crowd comments and flash photography.

“Tell the Chinese (fans), don’t teach me how to play tennis,” she said to the chair umpire after losing her serve in the second set.

“I don’t know why after I come to the final so many China coaches coaching me on the court,” Li told reporters. “Of course the fans, they want I can win this match, but they coach me how to play tennis on the court.”

Fast Start

Clijsters won the first eight points of the match to take a 2-0 lead before Li got on the scoreboard with an overhead shot and worked her way to break back.

After fighting back from 15-40 in the sixth game to level the match at 3-3, Li broke serve with some scrambling defense as Clijsters failed to put away a volley and then a smash. Li held serve before breaking for the third time with a forehand crosscourt pass to take the first set.

After the players both lost their service at the start of the second set, Clijsters had the third break in a row to move ahead 2-1 with a backhand service return winner.

Clijsters continued her run of not holding serve since the fifth game of the first set when Li slugged a forehand winner, and the players then temporarily stemmed the sequence of service breaks to make it 3-3. Clijsters took the next three games to send the match into a third set.

Third Set

Li exchanged words with the chair umpire between sets, appearing to complain again about noise from the crowd. Clijsters then won seven straight points on her way to a 2-0 lead before dropping serve for the sixth time in the match.

Li’s fourth double fault gave Clijsters the chance to break back and the Belgian held serve to love to go 4-1 up. The next three games went with serve, giving Clijsters the chance to serve out to clinch the championship.

She struck two forehand winners, lifting her tally for the match to 22, before two errors from Li handed her the comeback victory in 2 hours, 5 minutes. She wiped tears away with a towel as she waited courtside for the presentation ceremony.

“To win it in this way means it a lot,” Clijsters said. “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. I guess this big relief just overwhelms you a little bit.”