Kim Clijsters entered the Rogers Cup quarterfinal against Vera Zvonareva on a seven-match winning streak which included the Cincinnati title, and even though the Belgian finished the match, her performance was obviously hampered by a hip injury and she lost 2-6 6-3 6-2.
The fifth-seeded Clijsters was leading 6-2 3-2 when Zvonareva, the No.8 seed, won nine straight games to take the second set and establish a 5-0 lead in the third. Clijsters then produced a mini-comeback, winning two games in a row, but Zvonareva finished her off in the following game. Clijsters appeared to hurt her hip in the second set, but didn’t want to retire from the match. She received medical treatment and had her left thigh heavily taped. Her US Open title defense is in question now, the tournament starts August 30.
Earlier in the day, seed No.11 Svetlana Kuznetsova earned her semifinal place at the Rogers Cup with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Zheng Jie, who took out defending champion Elena Dementieva in the previous round.
The 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kunzetsova has had a solid introduction to this year’s US Open, winning the title in San Diego and now reaching her first Rogers Cup semifinal in seven visits. The Russian lost in the first round of Cincinnati, but it was in three sets to Maria Sharapova, the eventual finalist and almost the winner.
“I was a little bit lost for a while, but now I know what I have to do. Winning matches makes you a totally different player and now I know how to do it again,” Kuznetsova said after defeating Zheng. (photo courtesy of Fiji Water)
She played gutsy match even after she got injured. It was a pleasure to watch.Hope she will be OK for the US Open.