We were very anxious to see Venus Williams’ come back. The 3 times champion of the Miami tournament did not play a match since last year’s US Open due to an immune system disease (Sjogren’s syndrome).
Venus was in super top-hot form like as she was really looking forward to it.
‘Just to be in this tournament is big win for me,’ Venus said. ‘Just being here is a win, told myself going into this — this is a win. Just to train and get back at this level.’
‘I never considered retirement,’ she added ‘It’s been a journey to understand what is going on. I feel like I have a grasp on it better. … Autoimmune means different challenges than other people, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful.’
Venus will clash with Petra Kvitova in the next round. That will be an interesting match.
Then we have Kim that was coming back from an ankle injury. The inspiring Belgian showed no signs of any movement problem during the match. The only issue she had to deal with was just a very slow start to lose the opener 6-4. Then Kim went back to her tennis do dispatch Gajdosova 6-1 6-0 in the last 2 sets.
‘It was a matter of me finding the balance between consistency and aggressiveness,’ said Clijsters, ‘It took me a while to get used to things, but I am happy with the way it ended.’
‘I count on having the experience, but it’s taking me longer to get used to it again,’ Clijsters said. ‘It was becoming tougher and, like today, I knew if I didn’t improve my level in the second or third set, I could lose this match.’
The super-mom will play Goerges in the next round.
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Photocredit to Warren County
