TENNIS/Australian Open: As the Australian Open reaches the sharp end, Kim Clijsters finds herself carrying the weight of a nation's expectation.
After her engagement to Lleyton Hewitt and his defeat, along with that of Mark Philippoussis, the 20-year-old Belgian is, in effect, the last Australian left. If she is to win, she will need to show more resolution than she has in previous grand slam finals.
Three times she has come up short. When she was runner-up to Jennifer Capriati in the 2001 French Open, the achievement was regarded as remarkable and the precursor of major titles. There was little or no suggestion that she suffered from big-match nerves and on the WTA Tour she rarely has, winning nine tournaments last year and reaching the number one ranking in August.
Yet in the two finals that mattered most, the French Open again and the US Open, her powerfully athletic game was bleached of all colour. Her fellow Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne proved the more versatile and imaginative on both occasions and the best of Clijsters had been consumed by nerves.
Some players absorb pressure, others thrive on it and yet others attempt to deflect it. An ankle injury in Perth this month threatened to cost Clijsters her place in the draw here, yet in a perverse way it has been a small blessing, enabling her to move through into the second week with that crushing weight of expectation all but lifted.
Yesterday she defeated Italy's Silvia Farina Elia 6-3, 6-3 and next plays Russia's Anastasia Myskina, the number six seed, for a place in the semi-finals against Lisa Raymond or Switzerland's Patty Schnyder. There was no sign of a limp or a twinge but, when asked if the ankle was now completely sound, she rebutted the suggestion: "I just don't know what will happen. I could do something wrong in practice and I might not even be able to play my next match. I have to be very, very careful."
Myskina, who beat Chanda Rubin of the United States 6-7, 6-2, 6-2, is a mercurial player, prone to blowing as hot and cold as a Melbourne summer. Her second serve is feeble and eminently attackable.
Raymond might easily have suffered meltdown after her startling third-round victory over Venus Williams on Saturday but she was far too strong for the Russian-born French player Tatiana Golovin. By reaching the fourth round Golovin became the first women's wild card to reach this far in the Australian Open and is being compared with Maria Sharapova of Russia, who last year reached the fourth round of Wimbledon as a wild card.
