MELBOURNE, Australia -- U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters has lost -- badly -- in her third-round match at the Australian Open, a 52-minute, 6-0, 6-1 defeat to Nadia Petrova.
Clijsters, who won at Flushing Meadows last year in only her third tournament back from retirement after getting married and having a daughter, lost the first set in just 18 minutes. She won only five points in the first seven games.
Petrova broke Clijsters' serve in the second game of the second set and things never got better for the Belgian as Petrova hit accurate shots that always found the lines while winning the first nine games.
The loss ends any chance of a Clijsters quarterfinal matchup with fellow comeback Belgian Justine Henin, who advanced to the fourth round earlier Friday with a three-set win over Alisa Kleybanova.