U.S. Open 2012: Kim Clijsters Goes Down In Final Career Match

Second-round action begins at the U.S. Open in Flushing, N.Y., on Thursday. Headlining the action on the women’s side of the tournament is No. 4 Serena Williams, who will face Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain in Arthur Ashe Stadium. No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland will face Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain at the Grandstand Court.

On the men’s side of the tournament, No. 1 Roger Federer will face Bjorn Phau at Arthur Ashe Stadium, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Americans Mardy Fish and James Blake will be in action on Thursday as well. For a complete schedule of matchups at the U.S. Open, check out the U.S. Open’s official website.

The story on Wednesday at the U.S. Open was the final match for Kim Clijsters, who lost what could be her final professional match in the second round. Clijsters fell in straight sets to Great Britain’s Laura Robson, and has indicated she will probably retire after this tournament.

Elsewhere, the two marquee primetime matchups ended quickly. Maria Sharpova was finished in under an hour, beating Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain 6-0, 6-1 in 54 minutes. Andy Murray was up next in Arthur Ashe Stadium, and won in similarly dominant fashion over Croatia’s Ivan Dodig 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.

Olympic gold medalist Andy Murray took care of business Wednesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium, topping Croatia’s Ivan Dodig in the second round of the U.S. Open in straight sets by the score of 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.

After losing the first game of the match, Murray had little trouble with Dodig in the rest of the first set, taking all but the fifth game to earn the early advantage. Murray would only drop the third game of the second set, but had trouble closing the door on Dodig, who battled back after falling 4-1 in the third set. Dodig eventually fell to the Scotland native.

It took just 54 minutes for No. 3 seed Maria Sharapova to defeat Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino on Tuesday night in the second round of the 2012 U.S. Open, 6-0, 6-1 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

Sharapova set up her shots routinely and was clearly in control throughout the match. She attacked Dominguez Lino’s serves and was moved quickly through the match by holding her own serve. She had 30 winners to Dominguez Lino’s zero, and showed no signs of weaknesses in her game against the 31-year-old.

Kim Clijsters lost to Laura Robson in straight sets on Wednesday at the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament, in what is expected to be the final match of her career.

Clijsters, the No. 22 seed on the women’s side, entered the tournament as a three-time U.S. Open winner. It is a fitting place for Clijsters to end her career. After defeating Victoria Duval, 6-3, 6-1, on Monday, Clijsters’s winning streak on the blue Open courts grew to 22, which dates back to the 2003 finals. Immediately after the match, she acknowledged the situation as such:

Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro was able to win his Wednesday match at the 2012 U.S. Open in straight sets over Frenchman Florent Serra by a score of 6-4, 7-6 and 6-4.

The No. 7 seed Del Potro was challenged more than he thought in his match, but he was able to get past Serra through his serves, as he had 19 aces compared to just eight against. Del Porto also performed well on all of his first serve attempts; he converted 85 percent of those into points while Serra managed only a 66 percent conversion rate.

American John Isner was able to win his first match closer than expected at the 2012 U.S. Open against Belgium’s Xavier Malisse on Wednesday. Isner, who is the No. 9 seed, defeated Malisse three sets to one by a score of 6-3, 7-6 (5), 5-7 and 7-6 (9). One key to Isner getting the win was that he converted 20 aces.

Two of Isner’s wins came from tiebreaker on the second and also the fourth set. In that final set, Malisse was giving it all to try to extend the match, but after going back and forth on a few tiebreakers it was Isner who pulled out the final set, and the match. Isner won when Malisse botched a routine backhand volley that went short and hit the net.

With a decisive straight-set victory over Jan Hajek, Brian Baker won his first U.S. Open match in seven years on Wednesday.

Baker, once the world’s second-ranked junior, had essentially retired due to a series of injuries after the 2005 U.S. Open.

Women’s No. 1 seed Victoria Azarenka has defeated Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in her second-round match at the 2012 U.S. Open. Azarenka opened Wednesday’s schedule on the main court in Arthur Ashe Stadium with an easy 6-2, 6-2 win.

The 23-year-old Azarenka is seeking her first U.S. Open title. She won her first Grand Slam event earlier this year at the Australian Open. She has now lost just five games total in her first two matches of the tournament.

No. 4 on the women’s side, Serena Williams, continued her impressive summer run as she breezed through her opening-round match against fellow American Coco Vandeweghe.

Williams remarked before the match that she thought Vandeweghe had a superior serve. Either Williams was being nice, or she is far better in the return game. Probably a mixture of both.