Tennis-Wimbledon-Clijsters ruthless in Razzano rout
(Agencies)
Updated: 2003-06-26 09:19

Second seed Kim Clijsters stepped up her bid for the Wimbledon title with a ruthless 6-0 6-3 win over France's Virginie Razzano in the second round on Wednesday.

Having demolished Paraguay's Rossana Neffa-De los Rios 6-0 6-0 in the previous round, Clijsters romped to a 2-0 lead on before she finally surrendered her first game of the tournament.

Razzano's relief at avoiding a whitewash was short-lived as the French Open finalist powered ahead with her crunching forehand winners from the baseline.

The 20-year-old Belgian broke her opponent for the third time to clinch the first set in 23 minutes after Razzano's forehand fell wide.

"It was a long day and bit of a weird situation with changing courts and stuff," said Clijsters, who had spent a frustrating day waiting around the All England Club as she was scheduled to play the fourth match on court two.

But since ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova was involved in a long tussle with Japan's Shinobu Asagoe, organisers switched Clijsters's match to Centre Court late in the evening.

It was a move the Belgian was clearly happy with, especially as the Hantuchova-Asagoe duel was still going strong by the time Clijsters had returned to the locker room with a win firmly under her belt.

"At one point I was going to stay on court two and then at the end they moved me again so it was a bit confusing," she said.

"In the end everything turned out fine. I was happy to make the change as I played really well there in my first match.

"I wasn't feeling as fresh in the second set as I was in the first but I'm happy with the way I played even though I don't think my serve was always there 100 percent."

Clijsters, who captured the Ordina Open title last Saturday, allowed her opponent to stage a fightback in the second as her unforced errors started creeping up.

Going for the lines with brute power, the shots that had earlier fallen in started missing the lines and a determined Razzano gladly jumped to a 2-0 lead.

Ranked 58th in the world, the Frenchwoman, however, simply did not possess the weapons to sustain the run.

Cheered on by her boyfriend, the vanquished men's champion Lleyton Hewitt, Clijsters broke back for 2-2 and held off a spirited challenge in the fifth game by saving two more break points.

Clijsters sealed the win with a dainty backhand drop shot after 56 minutes -- 24 minutes longer than her first round outing -- to set up a third-round meeting with Samantha Reeves.