Clijsters dumped out of French Open

PARIS (AP):

After losing two match points in the second set and feeling her confidence fading, Kim Clijsters watched the match slip away yesterday at the French Open.

The two-time French Open runner-up, seeded second at this year's tournament, lost to the 114th-ranked Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.

"I started doubting a little bit," said Clijsters, who played only her second match in two months after shoulder and ankle injuries. "When you start doubting yourself on any surface, but for me definitely on clay, it's the wrong attitude to have."

Maria Sharapova also struggled, but the seventh-seeded Russian won 11 straight games after trailing 4-1 in the second set and beat 17-year-old Caroline Garcia of France 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. No. 6 Li Na of China and No. 9 Petra Kvitova also advanced, as did Australian Open runner-up Andy Murray, two-time French Open finalist Robin Soderling and No. 10 Mardy Fish of the United States on the men's side.

Clijsters, who had won her last 15 Grand Slam matches after taking the titles at last year's US Open and this year's Australian Open, failed to convert either match point in the second set.

Playing with her right ankle taped, the Belgian made 65 unforced errors in the match and lost 11 of the final 12 games. Rus finished with only 22 unforced errors and had only eight winners in the entire match.

Clijsters had no clay-court tournament preparation coming into the French Open. She pulled out of the Indian Wells tournament in March because of shoulder and wrist injuries. Then she injured her right ankle while dancing at her cousin's wedding in April.

Clijsters had her first chance to close out the match against the Dutchwoman when leading 5-2 in the second set, but Rus saved the match point and held to make it 5-3 before breaking Clijsters to get back on serve.

Rus, the 2008 Australian Open junior champion, reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

Yesterday's results

Men's singles second round: Robin Soderling (5), Sweden, def Albert Ramos, Spain, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Alejandro Falla, Colombia, def Florian Mayer (20), Germany, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-2. Ivan Ljubicic, Croatia, def Sam Querrey (24), United States, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4.

Mardy Fish (10), United States, def Robin Haase, Netherlands, 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-1.

Lukasz Kubot, Poland, def Carlos Berlocq, Argentina, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Fernando Verdasco (16), Spain, def Xavier Malisse, Belgium, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-1.

Andy Murray (4), Britain, def Simone Bolelli, Italy, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 7-5.

Leonardo Mayer, Argentina, def Marcos Baghdatis (27), Cyprus, 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (6).

Women's singles second round: Petra Kvitova (9), Czech Republic, def. Zheng Jie, China, 6-4, 6-1. Agnieszka Radwanska (12), Poland, def Sania Mirza, India, 6-2, 6-4.

Yanina Wickmayer (21), Belgium, def Ayumi Morita, Japan, 6-4, 7-5.

Sorana Cirstea, Romania, def Alexandra Dulgheru (27), Romania, 6-2, 7-5.

Arantxa Rus, Netherlands, def Kim Clijsters (2), Belgium, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Chan Yung-jan, Taiwan, def. Jill Craybas, United States, 6-1, 6-4.

Li Na (6), China, def. Silvia Soler-Espinosa, Spain, 6-4, 7-5.

Vania King, United States, def. Elena Baltacha, Britain, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Maria Kirilenko (25), Russia, def. Chanelle Scheepers, South Africa, 6-1, 6-4.

Roberta Vinci (30), Italy, def. Iryna Bremond, France, 6-3, 6-4.

Andrea Petkovic (15), Germany, def. Lucie Hradecka, Czech Republic, 7-6 (2), 6-2.

Ekaterina Makarova, Russia, def. Johanna Larsson, Sweden, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Men's doubles first round: Juan Sebastian Cabal, Colombia, and Eduardo Schwank, Argentina, def. Wesley Moodie, South Africa, and Dick Norman (8), Belgium, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Simon Aspelin, Sweden, and Paul Hanley, Australia, def. Eric Butorac, United States, and Jean-Julien Rojer (10), Netherlands Antilles, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Maximo Gonzalez, Argentina, and Kei Nishikori, Japan, def. Pablo Cuevas, Uruguay, and Lukas Dlouhy, Czech Republic, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes (3), India, def. Tommy Haas and Philipp Petzschner, Germany, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez, Spain, def. Somdev Devvarman, India, and Yen-hsun Lu, Taiwan, 6-3, 6-4. Teymuraz Gabashvili, Russia, and Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan, def. Adrian Mannarino and Benoit Paire, France, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (3).

Marc Lopez and David Marrero (13), Spain, def. Martin Damm, Czech Republic, and Victor Hanescu, Romania, 6-3, 1-1, retired. Rohan Bopanna, India, and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (5), Pakistan, def. Andreas Seppi and Simone Vagnozzi, Italy, 6-3, 6-2.

Fabio Fognini and Filippo Volandri, Italy, def. Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, Israel, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Max Mirnyi, Belarus, and Daniel Nestor (2), Canada, def. Gael Monfils and Josselin Ouanna, France, 7-6 (6), 6-3. Dustin Brown and Michael Kohlmann, Germany, def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Albert Montanes, Spain, 6-2, 6-1.

Women's doubles second round: Kveta Peschke, Czech Republic, and Katarina Srebotnik (2), Slovenia, def. Liga Dekmeijere, Latvia, and Agnes Szavay, Hungary, 2-1, retired. Casey Dellacqua and Rennae Stubbs, Australia, def. Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, and Zhang Shuai, China, 6-1, 7-6 (4). Nadia Petrova, Russia, and Anastasia Rodionova (9), Australia, def. Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja, Spain, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Alexandra Dulgheru, Romania, and Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovakia, def. Peng Shuai and Zheng Jie (10), China, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Natalie Grandin, South Africa, and Vladimira Uhlirova (16), Czech Republic, def. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Gisela Dulko, Argentina, and Flavia Pennetta (1), Italy, def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany, and Patty Schnyder, Switzerland, 6-2, 7-5.