Clijsters upset by unseeded Krasnoroutskaya ( 2003-08-15 10:19) (Agencies)
New world number one Kim Clijsters crashed out of the Canadian Open on
Thursday after losing 1-6 6-4 6-1 in the third round to unseeded Russian Lina
Krasnoroutskaya.
The defeat marked the first time the Belgian has failed to make the
semi-finals of an event this season.
"I didn't have the best preparation coming into the tournament, but I decided
to play and go for it and today I just didn't have the batteries in the second
and third sets," said Clijsters.
"After coming here from Los Angeles, and the jet lag, it was difficult...But
she played very well in the second and third sets and she didn't make any
mistakes," she added.
Clijsters, who took over the top spot from Serena Williams with her title
triumph in Los Angeles last week, had looked poised for an easy workout as she
raced through the opening set in just 19 minutes.
Playing in her fifth straight event, the fatigued Belgian watched the match
slip away in the second set behind a string of unforced errors.
Krasnoroutskaya, whose previous best result was reaching the semi-finals in
Doha, kept up the pressure in the third set to secure her place in the
quarter-finals where she will meet Slovakia's Katarina Srebotnik.
"I'm very surprised," said 19 year-old Krasnoroutskaya, ranked number 41 in
the world. "I didn't expect it from myself. I had nothing to lose. She's the
number one in the world and I just did it."
