Tennis:Tennis: Kim Clijsters blamed a loss of confidence for her second-round defeat to Arantxa Rus at the French Open. The second seed, who was going for a third consecutive grand slam title, looked in control at a set and 5-2 up but missed two match points and from there it was downhill as Rus won 11 of the last 12 games to triumph 3-6 7-5 6-1.
Asked to explain her dramatic slump, Clijsters said: "I'm still trying to figure that out.
"I felt kind of in control. I felt like she was missing quite a lot at the beginning of the rallies, and I felt that I was moving her around well from side to side. Then I started doubting a little bit. I think, on clay, that is something that for me is definitely the wrong attitude to have.
"She obviously started building up more confidence, started playing a lot better and was really putting me on my back foot all the time. I couldn't really play my aggressive tennis anymore in that third set."
Clijsters was playing at the French Open for the first time since 2006 and in her first tournament of any kind since March following an ankle injury sustained at a cousin's wedding.
The Belgian refused to blame that for her loss, though, saying: "My ankle feels fine, so that has absolutely nothing to do with it.
"I made the best of the situation that I was in and I tried to go for it. If I felt like I wasn't ready as much as I would have liked to be, I wouldn't have come here."
Clijsters was a major doubt for the tournament because of her lack of preparation but she insisted she had no regrets about her decision to play in Paris.
"I'm happy that I did that, that I gave myself the opportunity," she added. "It's better to try than not to try, that's my attitude. I'm not going to sit here and say maybe I shouldn't have come here. That's the attitude of a real loser, I think. I gave it the best that I had and with my abilities that I had. So I definitely don't regret it."
Rus, through to the third round of a grand slam for the first time, described the victory as the biggest of her career. The 20-year-old said: "This is for sure my biggest win. It was really nice to play against her. She's a real hero. I played fantastic tennis.
"When I was 5-2 down in the second set, I was thinking, 'Just go for it and play more aggressive'. And that really helped. At 6-5 I had a really good service game, and then I won the set. Then I was thinking, 'Yeah, I can win this match'."
Rus, ranked 114th in the world, must have feared the worst when Clijsters raced through the first three games but the Dutchwoman dug in and began to trouble her opponent off the ground.
The 2001 runner-up always had the edge though, despite the windy conditions, and a run of five hard-fought games in a row gave her the first set, and a 3-0 lead in the second.
Again Rus battled back, but despite some patchy tennis from Clijsters it always seemed only a matter of time before the 27-year-old strung enough points together to finish things off.
However, after failing to take advantage of a match point at 5-2, she lost six of the next seven points to give her opponent a sniff of a chance, and Rus then saved another match point before levelling proceedings at 5-5.
Rus was now playing extremely well and she broke Clijsters - whose dream of a third grand slam title in a row was fast fading - for a second successive time before taking the second set with her fifth game in a row.
The Belgian, producing numerous errors, particularly on the forehand side, stopped the rot with a gutsy hold at the start of the third set but then let three break points slip away on the Rus serve.
When the Dutchwoman followed up by breaking again, the prospect of an early exit for Clijsters began to look a distinct probability.
The second seed had an outrageous slice of luck when a ball hit the top of the net and then the net post before dropping back into play but any thoughts that might indicate it was her day after all were swiftly dispelled.
A double fault handed Rus a 4-1 lead and she clinched a famous victory on her second match point with a backhand winner.