Clijsters unworried by rematch with Petrova

Paul Newman
Friday 21 January 2011 01:00 GMT
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Kim Clijsters, the favourite to win the women's singles title here at the Australian Open, has a chance tomorrow to erase the memory of her biggest defeat in a Grand Slam tournament. For the second year in succession the 27-year-old Belgian faces a third-round meeting with Russia's Nadia Petrova, who 12 months ago crushed her 6-0, 6-1.

Clijsters, who beat Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3 yesterday, insisted that the memory of last year's defeat would not trouble her. "I don't think I've ever played a match like that, so it was very easy in a way to also forget about it," she said.

Jelena Jankovic became the highest-profile loser so far when she lost 7-6, 6-3 to China's Peng Shuai. The No 7 seed led 4-1 in the first set but then her game fell apart as her errors multiplied. Vera Zvonareva, the world No 2, survived a difficult patch against Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski before winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.

* Jocelyn Rae will replace the injured Laura Robson in the British Fed Cup team to play in Israel next month. She will be joined by Elena Baltacha, Anne Keothavong and Heather Watson. Meanwhile, the Lawn Tennis Association has confirmed that Eastbourne will continue to stage the Aegon International pre-Wimbledon event until 2013.

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