Saturday, August 14, 2010

Ivanovic injury puts Clijsters into Cincinnati final

Ana Ivanovic receives treatment before retiring injured early in her semifinal against Kim Clijsters on Saturday.
Ana Ivanovic receives treatment before retiring injured early in her semifinal against Kim Clijsters on Saturday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Kim Clijsters has the chance to win her third title on the WTA Tour this year
  • Belgian moves into Cincinnati final after Ana Ivanovic suffers foot injury
  • The Serbian retires hurt after losing the third game of the opening set on Saturday
  • Fourth seed Clijsters will next face either Maria Sharapova or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Clijsters has reached her third final this year after Ana Ivanovic's recent resurgence was halted by a foot injury at the Cincinnati Open on Saturday.

Fourth seed Clijsters was leading 2-1 in the opening set of the semifinal when fellow former world No. 1 Ivanovic withdrew.

The Serbian had needed treatment on her left foot during the third game, but retired after returning to the court and being aced by the Belgian.

Ivanovic will be hoping that the injury does not ruin her chances of continuing her improvement at next month's U.S. Open in New York, the final Grand Slam event of the tennis year.

Video: At home with Kim Clijsters
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"I was very scared. All of a sudden on that one shot, I felt something crack a little bit," she told reporters.

"Just on that one forehand when I went to step around it, I just felt like pain all of a sudden, so much pain in my foot and I couldn't step on it anymore.

"I tried a bit of tape, but I could not put any weight on it and there was no point in me continuing."

The 22-year-old, who before this week had won back-to-back matches only twice this year in reaching the semifinals in Brisbane and Rome, was seeking to reach her first final since Indian Wells in March 2009.

After almost being knocked out in the opening round of the hardcourt event, she had few problems in winning her next two matches and then on Friday won her quarterfinal against Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova, who earlier upset top seed Jelena Jankovic.

Clijsters, who won her finals in Brisbane in January and Miami in March, will play a Russian on Sunday following Saturday's second semi between former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova and 19-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Clijsters: Tennis star and supermum

Clijsters, playing her first event since losing in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon six weeks ago as she starts preparations for her U.S. Open title defense, defeated 11th seed Flavia Pennetta in her quarterfinal.

Sharapova cruised past French 16th seed Marion Bartoli in the night match, triumphing 6-1 6-4 after Istanbul champion Pavlyuchenkova won her 10th successive match with a 7-5 3-6 6-1 victory over 12th-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.

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