LADYDRAGON.COM - Kim Clijsters wins her first round match against Viktoriya Kutuzova ar the 2009 US Open

Wednesday September 02, 2009

Kim Clijsters wins her first round match against Viktoriya Kutuzova ar the 2009 US Open

Here's in depth information about VIKTORIYA KUTUZOVA (UKR #79) vs. [WC] KIM CLIJSTERS (BEL - NR)

HEAD TO HEADS: First meeting

MATCH FACTS:

This is Kim Clijsters’ first match at the US Open since winning the title in 2005. Kim has never been beaten by a player ranked outside of the world’s Top 10 at the US Open (1999 – No.6 S.Williams, 2000 – No.2 Davenport, 2001 – No.4 V.Williams, 2002 – No.9 Mauresmo, 2003 – No.3 Henin). Kim has the fourth best Grand Slam win-loss percentage of the players in the draw after S.Williams, V.Williams and Sharapova (0.792, 95-25)

Viktoriya Kutuzova has only reached the 2nd round at the US Open once before. Viktoriya has not won consecutive singles matches since 2009 Wimbledon qualifying. Viktoriya’s best win for 2009 so far was over then-world No.41 Alona Bondarenko at Charleston.

KUTUZOVA - CLIJSTERS

Tournament W-L (MD) 1-2 Tournament W-L (MD) 23-5

Grand Slam W-L (MD) 4-9 Grand Slam W-L (MD) 95-25

YTD / Career W-L 30-19 / 154-112 YTD / Career W-L 5-2 / 432-106

3-Set (YTD / Career) 7-5 / 43-35 3-Set (YTD / Career) 2-1 / 88-53

Tie-Break (YTD / Career) 3-4 / 26-29 Tie-Break (YTD / Career) 0-0 / 43-29

Hardcourt (YTD / Career) 10-10 / 77-69 Hardcourt (YTD / Career) 5-2 / 251-55

**Stats above include current tournament

VIKTORIYA KUTUZOVA (UKR)

Date of Birth (Age) August 19, 1988 (21) 2009 Prize $ (USD)* $129,224

Residence Odessa, Ukraine 2009 Titles (Singles/Doubles)^ 0 / 0

Current Singles Rank* No.79 Career Prize $ (USD) $496,056

Highest Singles Rank* No.76 (November 28, 2005) Career Titles (Singles/Doubles)^ 0 / 0

^denotes Sony Ericsson WTA Tour events and Grand Slams only

*prize money figure does not include this tournament

TOURNAMENT HISTORY for Viktoriya Kutuzova: Making third main draw appearance at US Open; made debut in 2005 (as a qualifier, l. to No.29 seed Anna Chakvetadze 75 in third set); achieved best result in 2006, reaching 2 round (l. to Gajdosova); bowed out in 3r of qualifying in 2007 (l. to Parmentier in 3s)

2009 HIGHLIGHTS: SF (1): Strasbourg; 3r (1): Charleston

• Best result is semifinalist at Strasbourg (as qualifier, d. No.5 seed Tanasugarn en route, l. to Rezai in final)

• 3r at Charleston (d. No.11 seed A.Bondarenko en route; l. to Vesnina 76(4) 75; win over world No.41 A.Bondarenko is her best win this year)

• 2r at Roland Garros (l. to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in 3s)

• Fell 1r at Australian Open (as qualifier, l. to Dechy), Dubai (as qualifier, l. to Pironkova), Acapulco (as qualifier, l. to No.3 seed Suarez Navarro), Wimbledon (as qualifier, l. to No.24 seed Sharapova), Portoroz and Istanbul

• Fell in qualifying at Brisbane, Monterrey, Rome, Cincinnati, Toronto and New Haven

• Reached finals at ITF/Tourhout-BEL ($100k)

CAREER SUMMARY

• One-time Tour singles semifinalist: 2009 Strasbourg

• Prior to that, best result at Tour-level event came at 2005 Indian Wells, reaching 4r (as WC, d. No.15 seed Pennetta and No.17 seed Frazier en route; l. to world No.1 Davenport)

• Made Top 100 debut on November 21, 2005 (rose from No.110 to No.95); reached a career-best singles ranking of No.76 (November 28, 2005)

• Has won four singles titles on ITF Women’s Circuit

GRAND SLAM HISTORY (SINGLES)

• 2009 US Open marks 11th Grand Slam main draw singles appearance

• Reached 2r four times: 2006 Roland Garros, 2006 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2009 Roland Garros

*Seedings based on rankings w/o August 24, 2009; rankings in brackets w/o August 31

OTHER FACTS

• Coached by father, Valeriy Kutuzov

• Began playing tennis at age 7 with father at Odessa Tennis Academy

• Favorite past-times include shopping, swimming, going to the beach

• Enjoys Russian books and food

• Favorite city to visit is Miami

• Admires Chris Evert, Pete Sampras

• Junior highlights include singles runner-up finish at 2003 Australian Open (l. to Zahlavova Strycova)

KIM CLIJSTERS (BEL)

Date of Birth (Age) June 8, 1983 (26) 2009 Prize $ (USD)* $61,585

Residence Bree, Belgium 2009 Titles (Singles/Doubles)^ 0 / 0

Current Singles Rank* N/A Career Prize $ (USD)* $14,825,881

Highest Singles Rank* No.1 (August 11, 2003) Career Titles (Singles/Doubles)^ 34 / 11

^denotes Sony Ericsson WTA Tour events and Grand Slams only

*prize money figure does not include this tournament

TOURNAMENT HISTORY fir Kim: Making her seventh main draw appearance at US Open; won maiden Grand Slam title in 2005 (as No.4 seed, d. No.10 seed V.Williams and top seed Sharapova, both in 3s, en route, d. No.12 seed Pierce in final; before that had lost previous four Grand Slam finals); finalist in 2003 (as top seed and world No.1, d. No.5 seed Mauresmo and No.3 seed Davenport en route, l. to No.2 seed Henin; the second of three Grand Slam finals she would lose to the fellow Belgian); quarterfinalist in 2001 (as No.5 seed, l. to No.4 seed and eventual champion V.Williams); reached 4r in 2002 (as No.7 seed, l. to No.10 seed Mauresmo 75 in third set); advanced to 3r on debut in 1999 (l. to No.7 seed and eventual champion S.Williams 75 in third set); 2r exit in 2000 (l. to No.2 seed Davenport in 3s)

CAREER SUMMARY

• Turned pro in 1997 and won 34 Tour singles titles, including one Grand Slam title (2005 US Open). Retired May 6, 2007, following 2r loss (1r bye) against Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko at Warsaw. Announced plans for a comeback to tennis in March 2009

• Won 34th Tour singles title at 2007 Sydney (as No.3 seed, d. Jankovic 46 76(1) 64 in final, having trailed 4-2 and faced mp down 5-4 in second set)

• 34 singles titles places her tied at 13th with S.Williams on all-time list of most career singles titles

• 17-time Tour singles finalist, most recently at 2007 Antwerp (as No.2 seed, l. to top seed Mauresmo; was fifth straight loss to her)

• Winner of 11 Tour doubles titles, including majors at 2003 Roland Garros and Wimbledon (w/Sugiyama)

• 9-time Tour doubles finalist, most recently at the Tour Championships in 2003 (w/Sugiyama)

• In August 2003, ascended to No.1 in both the singles (August 11) and doubles (August 4) rankings, held both simultaneously for three consecutive weeks, becoming only the fifth player in Tour history to hold both No.1 rankings simultaneously (also Navratilova, Sanchez-Vicario, Hingis and Davenport)

• Held No.1 ranking for 19 non-consecutive weeks in singles and for four non-consecutive weeks in doubles; was first Belgian to hold either

• Missed much of 2004 w/left wrist injury; required surgery on June 12, 2004; attempted comeback in Hasselt in September 2004 but re-injured wrist, ret. from SF, not playing again until Antwerp in February 2005; shortly after,became lowest-ranked Tier I winner in history taking Indian Wells title ranked No.133; followed by becoming first unseeded Miami champion, becoming only second woman after Graf to achieve the Indian Wells-Miami double

• Member of Belgian Fed Cup Team 2000-06, helping Belgium win its first-ever title in 2001

• Mixed doubles finalist at 2000 Wimbledon (w/Hewitt)

GRAND SLAM HISTORY (SINGLES)

• 2009 US Open marks her 28th Grand Slam main draw singles appearance, and first since 2007 Australian Open

• Most recent Grand Slam appearance was at 2007 Australian Open, reaching SF (as No.4 seed, d. No.6 seed Hingis in QF before falling to top seed and eventual runner-up Sharapova)

• One-time Grand Slam winner: 2005 US Open (d. Pierce)

• Four-time Grand Slam runner-up: 2001 Roland Garros (l. to Capriati), 2003 Roland Garros/2003 US Open/2004 Australian Open (l. to Henin each time)

• Seven-time semifinalist, most recently at 2007 Australian Open

• Two-time quarterfinalist (2001 Wimbledon and US Open)

OTHER FACTS

• Coached by Wim Fissette, physio is Sam Verslegers

• Husband is American basketballer, Brian Lynch. They were married on July 13, 2007. Daughter, Jada Ellie, was born February 27, 2008

• Father, Leo (nickname Lei), was a soccer coach and former player who was Belgium's 1988 Player of the Year (passed away January 4, 2009); mother, Els, was a top gymnast in Belgium; younger sister, Elke, who also played on the Tour

• Won 2006 Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award and Humanitarian of the Year at Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Awards

• Official Web site: www.kimclijsters.be

Kim won 6-1, 6-1

Kim will face Marion Bartoli in the next round

Previous Kim News

Kim Clijsters losses her match at the Rogers Cup in Toronto against Jelena Jankovic