Former world No.1 Kim Clijsters suffered the worst loss of both of her careers which featured 555 matches, losing to seed No.19 Nadia Petrova 6-0 6-1 in the third round of the Australian Open in just 52 minutes.

The 15th-seeded Clijsters, who won the US Open last season and the Brisbane International just before coming to the Australian Open, scored only five points in the first set and made 17 unforced errors.

The Belgian couldn’t find her game throughout the match:

The way I played today, I was completely off and I didn't feel the ball at all. She was good, but she really didn't have to do much. She served really well and was aggressive, but that's because I let her play into the court.

Before this one, Clijsters’ worst defeat came nine years ago in Miami when she lost to Serena Williams 6-0 6-2. (photo via Australian Open)

Tennis players took part in what proved to be a very successful tennis charity event called "Hit for Haiti", which raised over $185,000 for the victims of the recent earthquake.

Women's tennis players Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Samantha Stosur joined men's tennis stars Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick.

The exhibition was organized on Roger Fereder's initiative, in less than one day, and still, the 15,000-seat Rod Laver Arena was packed.

Some players didn’t play in the exhibition, but donated the money. For example, Maria Sharapova contributed with $10,000. (source: The Canadian Press, photo via Great Tennis Photos)

Women's Tennis Blog is back from vacation. I spent more than two wonderful weeks in China and now it's time to resume posting. Thank you all for being so supportive and not minding the long break without women's tennis news here.

First of all, I would use this opportunity to once again thank all of you for voting for Women's Tennis Blog in 2009 Baseline Awards, as thanks to you my blog won the in the Best Tennis Blog category.

Secondly, I missed quite a few tennis events and stories during my time off, and I would like to do a little wrap-up of what happened while I was away. The Brisbane International and the ASB Classic are over and here's what happened there.

Brisbane saw an all-Belgian epic final, with Kim Clijsters defeating Justine Henin 6-3 4-6 7-6(6). En route to victory Clijsters saved two match points and wasted three.

Just after the Brisbane final, Henin withdrew from the Sydney International because of the left leg injury sustained in that title match. Henin wanted to make sure she was healthy for the upcoming Australian Open.

The other WTA tournament I skipped to cover was the ASB Classic in Auckland. The titlist at the event was Yanina Wickmayer who defeated top seed Flavia Pennetta 6-3 6-2 in the final. The victory was the best moment of Wickmayer’s career as she entered the Auckland draw after a court overturned a year's ban imposed by the Belgian doping authority.

The most exciting off-court piece of news is that Nike signed an eight-year, $70-million endorsement deal with Maria Sharapova. In addition, the Russian will be getting a percentage of sales from the line she'll help develop. Wow! And by the way, Sharapova beat Venus Williams 6-3 6-4 at an exhibition event in Thailand.

Feel free to mention in the comments some stories that I missed to write about that you find interesting. I would love you to enrich this post by your links and perspective on the past two weeks. (photos via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Belgian Kim Clijsters beat American Venus Williams 6-1 7-5 on home soil at the Diamond Games exhibition match in Anwerp.

They were playing in front of 14,000 people in the stands and Clijsters said that not even the US Open final can compare with the feeling of winning in your native country before a packed Sportpaleis. (source: Reuters, photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova will play the 2010 BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup.

The $1.2 million tennis exhibition will take place on March 1, 2010 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. There will be two one-set semifinals, followed by a best-of-three-set final.

Last year's participants at the event were the Williams sisters and Serbs Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic. Serena was the winner.

Tickets will go on sale December 2, 2009 and range from $25 to $1000. (source: Simply Serena Williams)