Former world number one Kim Clijsters made a winning return to the WTA victory against Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic in the second round of the $170 000-tournament in Hasselt, Belgium.
The second seeded Clijsters will now face either countrywoman Els Callens or Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria in the quarterfinals.
”I was a little nervous at the start of the match but the support of the fans really helped me,” said Clijsters.
”I’m really happy and my wrist didn’t hurt at all. I am very happy to be back on the tour because being away from the tour wasn’t good but I had no choice.
”I missed the competition but at least it allowed me to do other things.”
The 21-year-old Belgian had been sidelined since May recovering from surgery to repair a torn tendon in her left wrist and hadn’t played since Berlin.
Due to her time away from the Tour, her ranking has dipped to number seven.
On Wednesday, she was too good for an opponent ranked 30 places below her although the left-handed Czech did pose the occasional problem coming back from 4-1 down to 4-4 in the first set.
But Clijsters’ greater experience told when she dominated the tie-break before racing through the second set. – Sapa-AFP