CNNSI.com Australian Open Australian Open


 

Clijsters roars into quarterfinals

Posted: Monday January 20, 2003 1:10 PM

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Belgian Kim Clijsters tuned into an Oprah Winfrey TV special before demolishing Amanda Coetzer in the fourth round of the Australian Open on Monday.

You go girl!

Clijsters chose to watch the Oprah special, on actor Michael J. Fox, in her hotel room rather than see her boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt live on a rival station.

Hewitt lost in four frustrating sets to Younes El Aynaoui but it had no effect on Clijsters, who did channel flick enough to get the general drift.

"I tried not too watch many of the other matches either that were on TV,"' said Clijsters. "I was watching the Oprah Winfrey show in the afternoon and that took my mind off everything a little bit.

"It's tough, especially when the matches are so close and exciting, to focus about your own things. You lose time."

Clijsters' game was unaffected by Hewitt's defeat, or anything else, as she dismantled Coetzer 6-3, 6-1 in her super-efficient style.

She has dropped just 10 games in four rounds and has clocked 3 hours, 27 minutes playing time -- three minutes fewer than Hewitt was on court Monday alone.

Next stop is a quarterfinal against Russia's Anastasia Myskina, a three-set winner against Chanda Rubin on Monday, and then looming is a possible semifinal against Serena Williams.

Myskina has a 2-1 career record against Clijsters but most judges expect the balance to change.

Clijsters said all the right things about her opponent but acknowledged she is now playing the best tennis of her life.

"It's probably the most consistent I've been playing," she said. "I used to maybe play one or two good matches then maybe not one as good. Now I'm not having that. If my game goes off a little bit during a match I'll just pick it up again (straight away). I never used to be able to do that."


 
Related information
Stories
Serena reaches Australian quarters
El Aynaoui knocks off top-seeded Hewitt
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 


 
CNNSI