Second seed Kim Clijsters struggled with a hip injury that threatens to derail her Australian Open campaign as she fought her way into the third round at Melbourne Park on Thursday.
The United States Open champion downed China’s Meng Yuan 6-4, 6-2, but needed medical attention on her right hip early in the second set and said the injury was making her participation in the tournament a day-to-day proposition.
”I’m happy with the win, but my body doesn’t feel too good at the moment,” Clijsters said. ”I’m happy to get through and give myself another day off tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll recover better.”
The Belgian 22-year-old said she will spend her rest day icing the troublesome hip, which she damaged last week at the Sydney International warm-up event.
Following the gutsy win over Meng, Clijsters said she is determined to battle through the pain for as long as possible in her bid to improve on the runners-up trophy she won in 2004.
”I didn’t play my best tennis, not even close, but I still felt like I could win out there, and as long as I have that feeling, as long as it doesn’t get worse, I’ll fight until I’m done,” she said.
The injury setback comes after she hit the best form of her career in 2005 to claim nine WTA tournaments, including her first grand slam with a US Open victory over Mary Pierce.
She will next meet either Marion Bartoli, the 27th seed from France, or Roberta Vinci of Italy.
Clijsters missed last year’s Australian Open because she was recovering from wrist surgery that saw her slump to 22nd in the world rankings before clawing her way back. — Sapa-AFP