Nadia Petrova proved she had no room for sentiment, dumping crowd favourite Kim Clijsters out of the Australian Open third round on Friday with a 6-0 6-1 thrashing in just 52 minutes.
The 19th-seeded Russian had never beaten Clijsters, who is still in the early stages of her return from retirement, in their four previous encounters.
"It sucks. It's something you don't want to happen too often," Clijsters told reporters of her performance. "I have had a lot of days like this, trust me, but they just did not happen in my matches.
"I didn't feel the ball at all. On the other hand she was good. But I made all the mistakes and she didn't really have to do much.
"Tennis wise, I couldn't bring what my head wanted me to do.
"What is more frustrating? Playing like this or getting beaten when you play your best?
"I lost because it was my fault. My opponent, okay, she was better, but I didn't give her the best Kim out there today."
Petrova had stamped her mark on the match early, keeping Clijsters off balance with powerful ground strokes and a clinical service game that stunned the Hisense Arena crowd into silence.
{{/usCountry}}Petrova had stamped her mark on the match early, keeping Clijsters off balance with powerful ground strokes and a clinical service game that stunned the Hisense Arena crowd into silence.
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