Kim Clijsters heading in 'right direction' after WTA Tour return
Clijsters: "We're not where we want to be yet, but we're going in the right direction. That's really important"
Tuesday 18 February 2020 12:50, UK
Image:Kim Clijsters had a good feeling after her first WTA Tour
match in eight years
Kim Clijsters said she's heading in the "right direction" after her first WTA Tour match in eight years ended in defeat to Garbine Muguruza at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
At 36, the Belgian is 10 years Muguruza's senior, as well as a mother of three, but her last match action came at the 2012 US Open. It was her second retirement, having spent two years out of the game from 2007 - aged 23 - to 2009.
Drawn against the ninth seed and this year's Australian Open runner-up on her return, Clijsters battled well after an understandably slow start but was beaten in an hour and 37 minutes.
Image:The Belgian put on a fine showing in the second set against Garbine Muguruza
She was nevertheless content with her display, telling the official WTA website: "I had a good feeling out there. I do feel a little bit of - I'm not going to say relief, but a feeling of the pace I can handle.
"Second set, I felt I was really in the match," Clijsters added. "I felt like for a while I was dominating some of the points.
"I think that's a good feeling to have, knowing the way I started the first set and then the way I was able to get back into that second set, with the type of tennis I played.
"It's something that is the positive about this match. I'll take that with me for the next matches."
An optimistic Clijsters later added: "To know that the work we have put in, yeah, I feel like we're going in the right direction. "We're not where we want to be yet, but we're going in the right direction. That's really important."
Clijsters's superb performance impressed a number of her fellow women's tennis players past and present on social media, including Serena Williams, Chris Evert and Tracy Austin.
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