Clijsters sustains momentum in comeback bid

BRISBANE, Australia – Kim Clijsters’ career comeback continued to gather momentum Tuesday with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Australia’s Alicia Molik at the Brisbane International.

Top-seeded Clijsters won the first eight games in the second-round match until Molik, playing her first top-tier tournament since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, held serve.

Clijsters won the US Open last September in only her third tournament back from more than two years in retirement, becoming the first mother to win a Grand Slam singles title since Evonne Goolagong Cawley at Wimbledon in 1980.

Clijsters’ title inspired a comeback by fellow Belgian and former No. 1-ranked Justine Henin, who won her first tour match since May 2008 on Monday against second-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia.

Having Clijsters and Henin on the opposite ends of the draw sets up the possibility of an intriguing all-Belgian final in Brisbane in the lead up to the Australian Open, which starts Jan. 18 in Melbourne.

Clijsters is into the quarterfinals against either Alexsandra Wozniak or Lucia Safarova.

She has only lost six games in her opening two matches in Brisbane, following a 6-2, 6-1 win over Tathiana Garbin in the first round, and her powerful forehand was working well against Molik.  (AP)