A Widely Contrasting Tale of Two Belgians

Kim Clijsters came into the interview room Thursday night and took a quick glance at the TV monitor behind her during the season-ending Bank of America WTA Tour Championships.

The match being shown featured her Belgian countrywoman and rival Justine Henin-Hardenne against Anastasia Myskina of Russia. Clijsters was answering questions in her usual rapid-fire English and hadn’t even kicked over to the Flemish portion of the interview as Henin-Hardenne kept making errors and dropping points, losing the first five games.

You might say their race for No. 1 was hanging in the balance.

The top-ranked Clijsters, having won her first two matches in the round-robin portion, became the first player to qualify for the semifinals. On Thursday, she survived a spirited challenge from Chanda Rubin, winning, 6-4, 6-4, in 1 hour 24 minutes. Rubin has lost to Clijsters seven straight times.

“To be the first one in, it’s a relief as well,” Clijsters said. “Everyone still has to play. And a few girls, the match now as well -- they still have to play their first match, and I’m already in.”

Earlier, Amelie Mauresmo of France kept her semifinal hopes alive, defeating Elena Dementieva of Russia, 6-3, 6-2, before an announced crowd of 5,431 at Staples Center. Dementieva, who won only nine games in two matches, was the first player to be eliminated from contention.

Said Mauresmo: “We just had a little talk last night and some more today. My coach told me, ‘You know, you still have some chance to qualify.’ But I just have to play my game and go forward. And that is what I did today. And it worked well.”

But the real drama took place in the Henin-Hardenne-Myskina match, the last of the night. An ailing Henin-Hardenne was clearly not herself, committing seven unforced errors in the first three games and failing to make routine shots.

She had been sick since arriving in Los Angeles, fighting a fever and chest congestion. Henin-Hardenne canceled practice Monday, started taking antibiotics and admitted that they weren’t helping much, and she requested a late start. Coming into this season-ending event, all Henin-Hardenne needed to do to finish the year at No. 1 was to advance to the semifinals.

As first, it appeared as though the late start wasn’t enough. Somehow, though, Henin-Hardenne pulled herself together enough to win, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5, in 2 hours 32 minutes.

At the start, she was visibly struggling. And then a truly unusual sight took place during the changeover at 5-2 in the first set.

The chair umpire had summoned the trainer because Henin-Hardenne required medical attention. That is a fairly common sight during matches. What was highly uncommon was the trainer’s taking out a stethoscope, followed by a blood pressure gauge.

The trainer called a doctor and Henin-Hardenne received more medical treatment. They appeared to discuss the situation, and Henin-Hardenne was allowed to continue.

But Myskina, who sat in her courtside chair during the long delay, appeared unsettled after the break. Henin-Hardenne held serve for 3-5, and broke in the next game, saving a set point.

On the next changeover, Henin-Hardenne used some throat spray and still did not look capable of pulling out the set. But defying conventional wisdom, she appeared to be playing better and picked up the pace of her groundstrokes, saving two more set points to pull to 5-5. Myskina grew increasingly frustrated and started to bounce her racket. The loss of composure was complete as she dropped the first set, 7-5, having lost seven straight games, five after Henin-Hardenne received treatment.

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Jennifer Capriati has not had a coach other than her father, Stefano, since working with Harold Solomon in 1999. She has been working with Paul Annacone during this event on a trial basis and said she will be making more modifications for 2004.

“I’ve been planning on doing some changes for the future and he has some great credentials,” she said. “At this point, I want to bring out the best in my game. My dad can’t travel all the time and I think he’s getting a little tired. It’s good for me to change things up and get a little different perspective.”