(Reuters) – A look at the records of Belgium’s Kim Clijsters and Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova before their first-round match at the U.S. Open on Tuesday:
KIM CLIJSTERS
Age: 37
WTA Ranking: Unranked (Highest ranking: 1)
Seeding: Unseeded
Grand Slam titles: 4 (Australian Open 2011; U.S. Open 2005, 2009, 2010)
WTA career titles: 41
2019 U.S. Open performance: Absent
Best U.S. Open performance: Winner (2005, 2009, 2010)
The Three-times U.S. Open champion came out of retirement this year after an eight-year absence and is looking for her first match win since returning to the WTA Tour.
Clijsters suffered first-round exits in Dubai and Monterrey earlier this season while an abdominal injury forced her out of the Western & Southern Open tune-up event, leaving her short of match practice.
The good news for the former world number one is that she will be playing on her preferred hard court surface, which rewards her aggressive style of play.
21-EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA
Age: 25
WTA Ranking: 29 (Highest ranking: 25)
Seeding: 21
Grand Slam titles: 0
WTA career titles: 1
2019 U.S. Open performance: Second round
Best U.S. Open performance: Second round (2017, 2019)
Alexandrova began the year by winning her maiden singles title at Shenzhen and reached the semi-final at St. Petersburg, but has not been able to fully rediscover that form since the season resumed following the COVID-19 hiatus.
The hard-hitting Russian, who will be making only her fourth appearance in the U.S. Open main draw, is likely to be a tricky first-round opponent for Clijsters despite a lack of experience at the biggest stage in New York.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
First meeting
(Compiled by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
