Jet-lagged Clijsters Throws in Towel at WTA Championships

"I was not at 100 percent to play my best tennis," said Clijsters, who on Tuesday lost her opening-round match to Mary Pierce. "These last two days, I haven't been hitting the ball very clean or seeing the ball. It's a matter of playing a lot and being a bit tired."

On her website before leaving for L.A., Clijsters almost conceded she was not giving herself enough time to arrive and acclimate for the championships, mentioning yet another injury.

"At 4.30 am on Friday, I'll be embarking upon a long journey," Clijsters wrote. "Three hours by car and thirteen hours by plane to get into Los Angeles. Two days should do to get fully prepared for the last tournament of the year. I can't start my training before Sunday. I have been resting this week, as there was a chance of my shin-bone getting infected...Compared to the American players I'll be feeling the consequences of that long journey. Everybody who has done a similar one, knows that two days is very little time to actually digest a jet lag, but my '05 season has already been a major success."

Clijsters still has a chance to reach the semifinals if she wins her last match Friday, and two other players in her group also finish with a 1-2 record, with the tiebreak then coming down to games won.

But don't count on it.

"My body has had enough," Clijsters said. "I remember at the US Open after I won a really tough match against Venus, I was able to bounce right back physically and mentally the next day. Now I don't feel like that."

After the match the seemingly blase Belgian, who looked ready to book a flight home, was asked if she was disappointed by the loss.

"Of course I'm disappointed," Clijsters said. "I would rather have played better and won but there are a lot of other girls who are good players and maybe it's their time to win this time."

One of those players, the hot-handed Pierce, followed-up her win over Clijsters with a 6-2, 6-3 romp over Russian Elena Dementieva Wednesday.

"That was a great thing to play Kim first," Pierce said. "After playing her, everybody else is going to be easier because Kim is quickest."

The only worry for the Frenchwoman now is a potential shoulder injury that bothered her throughout her match Wednesday.

"It was killing me," Pierce said of her right shoulder. "My shoulder was getting really, really tight and I was having trouble serving. I don't think it's anything serious."

Davenport also raised her record to 2-0 with a 6-3, 7-5 victory against Patty Schnyder, who drops to 0-2 in round robin play.

"I'm in a good position, but you still don't know what can happen," said Davenport who last year failed to advance out of the round robin. "Both of us got a little sloppy in the second set. It felt really tiring. I felt like, 'I've got to win in two sets.'"

The top two players in each group of four advance into Saturday's semifinals.

The standings thus far are:
Green Group: Davenport 2-0, Sharapova 1-0, Petrova 0-1, Schnyder 0-2.
Black Group: Pierce 2-0, Mauresmo 1-0, Dementieva 0-1, Clijsters 0-2.

Numbers: It was the 500th career win for Pierce; Dementieva is 1-9 at the WTA Championships since 2000; Schnyder has yet to post a win in her third Championships appearance; Clijsters has an 0-2 record after winning the title in her last two appearances.

The announced crowd Wednesday at the Staples Center was only 3,911.

On tap for Thursday are Schnyder vs. Petrova, Davenport vs. Sharapova where the American can clinch a semifinal berth, and Mauresmo vs. Dementieva.

Richard Vach is a senior writer for Tennis-X.com