Four-time Grand Slam champion and former world No 1 Kim Clijsters makes her first appearance of 2021 following both knee surgery and time out after contracting COVID-19 but the Belgian lost her opening-round clash to 35-year-old Hsieh Su-Wei
Tuesday 28 September 2021 07:10, UK
Kim Clijsters' return to action at the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic proved short-lived as the former world No 1 lost her opening-round clash to Hsieh Su-Wei.
The 38-year-old Belgian, who accepted a wild card into the hardcourt event, was making her first appearance of 2021 following both knee surgery and time out after contracting COVID-19, and Hsieh proved too strong.
Clijsters would have been hoping to ease her way back in but instead endured a two-hour and 18-minute battle which Hsieh won 6-3 5-7 6-3.
She looked competitive but misfired at key moments to remain without a win in four events since her comeback last year.
Clijsters launched her comeback from retirement in February 2020 and played two WTA Tour events before the COVID-19 outbreak halted action across the global sporting calendar.
The four-time Grand Slam champion resumed play at the 2020 US Open, where she lost to Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova, before knee surgery forced her to shut down her season. She then contracted the virus in January 2021.
Clijsters won the US Open in 2005 before her first retirement two years later. She returned to the sport in 2009 and won a second major title in New York as an unseeded wild card in her third tournament back.
The Belgian defended her New York crown in 2010 and picked up the last of her four major titles at the Australian Open in 2011 before retiring again in 2012.
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