By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday September 1, 2020

Kim Clijsters showed flashes of brilliance on Tuesday night, but ultimately the three-time US Open champion couldn’t put the pedal to the metal when it counted as she fell short in her first Grand Slam match in eight years to Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6 7-5 6-1.



Clisters’ return to the Grand Slam stage started with a bang as the 37-year-old Belgian came out to Court 17 brandishing her trademark compact strokes and easy power against the 21st-seeded 25-year-old. Clijsters assertively tattooed her groundstrokes to keep Alexandrova off balance and appeared to be headed to a straight-sets win, but the Russian had other ideas.

Alexandrova slowly started to dial in her power game and stayed tight with Clijsters in the second set. Eventually she created her opportunities and converted her fourth set point to level the match.

Clijsters broke in the first game of the third set but had little left to give as Alexandrova found another gear and powered to the finish line, taking the final six games to book a second-round clash with 18-year-old American Caty McNally.

After the match Clijsters walked the fine line between being hopeful and frustrated in her press conference. The Belgian has picked a difficult moment to return to the sport after seven years off the tour, and she has had to manage expectations accordingly. In the year of Coronavirus, getting match tough and building confidence over time has proven impossible.

A steady stream of match play, and the accompanying growth of confidence that comes with it, was the original plan for Clijsters. But injuries slowed her start and the coronavirus pandemic has called the shots since then. She lost her first two matches in February before the pandemic halted the season; since then she has been forced to roll with the punches and try to be a good sport.

“It's a process,” she said after the match. “That's what I told myself at the start when I took this challenge on, was that it's going to take a lot of hard work and losses. That's part of it. We'll see what's up next. To be honest, I'm not sure at the moment yet. Yeah, we'll see. It's been a strange year obviously. When I started in Dubai and Monterrey, was excited to play more tournaments, have the family travel with me. But that obviously didn't happen. We'll see what the future holds.”

Despite the disappointing loss and all the difficult circumstances that have made 2020 a nightmare season, not just for Clijsters but for so many on the tour, the Hall of Famer remains upbeat and appears to be eager to continue her comeback.

“Out of the three matches I played officially on tour, I think this by far was my best one,” she said. “Looking at that, I think that's the most positive thing, is looking at the things that have to be better and keep building on the positive things. I think you look at a loss in a little bit more of a mature way in a sense than maybe 10 years ago.”

Meanwhile, Alexandrova continues to assert herself as a player to watch. Her tennis was breathtaking at times tonight, and she looks more than ready to follow through on the promise she showed when she claimed her first WTA title this January in Shenzhen

She deserves full credit for turning Clisjters New York minute into further proof that she is indeed a player on the rise.