PARIS — To many, Kim Clijsters was the favorite to win French Open. And why not? In a woman’s field without names like Serena or Justine, she was a popular favorite — by default. Okay, she no longer was No. 1, but the accomplished vet had won the last two Slams and twice had reached the French final.
But now, after a routine first round win, she would have to face Arantxa. No, not Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario — the diminutive Spanish righthander who's now a Hall of Famer. This was another Arantxa. Tall, lean, 24, left-handed Arantxa and with less than $300,000 in career prize money, Arantxa Rus was perhaps better known for her nickname — Arantxa “What’s the” Rus — than her less-than-lofty ranking of No. 114. Certainly, this would be a routine win for the four-time Slam champ. Rus had never reached the third round of a Slam and had never beaten anyone ranked higher than Medina Garrigues at No. 37. No wonder Clijsters routined the first set and had two match points in the second. Her ankle seemed no worse for her wear after the fluke injury she suffered this spring at her cousin’s wedding.
Then the young Dutch player, unconcerned that she was facing her hero, survived the match points and increasingly checked in with her topspin forehand and flat backhand. All the while Clijsters checked out. The Belgian was suddenly double faulting with astounding regularity. Her push off her ankle now seemed suspect, her change of direction modest and her sliding seemed short. Forehand errors, drop shot error after drop shot error, outright miss-hits – nothing was working for the usually efficient Clijsters. “What's she doing?” “Where’s the fight?” The crowd was as stunned as it was quiet. Were the hefty Parisian breezes about to blow Kim back to Belgium?
Young Dutch players on the brink of huge upsets have blinked before – think of Paul Haarhuis unable to deliver against Jimmy Connors at the U.S. Open. But Rus, a former Aussie Open junior champ, didn’t blink. Instead, it was a very rusty Clijsters who was concerned. “I started to doubt a little bit,” she confided.
All the while, Rus held her nerve on two match points and suffered only 22 unforced errors as she streaked, winning 11 of the last 12 games and to score a shocking 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 upset over a player ranked 112 slots higher than her. The ranking differential sent reporters to the record books and they soon discovered that this was the biggest shocker since Russia Alla Kudryavtseva beat Maria Sharapova at the Wimbledon in 2008.
