Clijsters races past Ivanovic

TENNIS US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS:ALL OF a sudden, women's tennis is a game for grown-ups. In the nineties, the poppets ruled. Martina Hingis was the world number one at 17, three years after she started playing for money. Now, the average age of women in the top 10 is 26. That's progress.

Probably. Whatever the view that tennis devoured young talent and threw it into rehab a decade or so ago, the modern game requires a better mix of precocious talent and maturity, as was witnessed at the US Open again, when the latest American beauty, Beatrice Capra, 18, from Ellicott City, Maryland, learnt the hard way that It’s A Wonderful Life is a movie directed by her unrelated namesake, Frank, and not a script for the real world, when she got nilled for the second time this summer, here at the expert hands of Maria Sharapova.

Asked to comment on the strength or otherwise of American women’s tennis, Sharapova replied: “To be honest, I get asked this question every single grand slam. We’re in Australia, you get asked about the Australians. No. You really have to worry about your own results.” Well said.

Capra, apparently, cannot make her mind up about turning pro or going to college. Check the score, Beatrice, and your ranking: 371.

Last year here it was Melanie Oudin, of Marietta, Georgia, starlet for the star-struck, when she went up against four Russians; she gave it a good go again this time before succumbing to reality in round two. The American press (hopefully with tongue in cheek) were calling Capra the new Oudin. They are both the new yesterday.

And so, possibly, to tomorrow. Take a bow Oliver Golding from Twickenham. The former child actor was cautioned for throwing his racket, which almost hit a spectator as it left Court 15, on his way to beating the Spaniard Andres Artunedo Martinavarr, a young man who has to live with a surname that sounds like it is unfinished and a tennis game, ditto. Golding, a genuine talent, hung on to his racket long enough to win 7-6, 6-3.

“I went for a shot at the net and the racket just slipped out of my hand and trickled over the fence,” he said. “Thank God it didn’t hit anyone.” Towards the end, Golding took a break for a muscle spasm in his glutes, a pain in the butt that he admitted “also gave me time for a break”. A career in script writing awaits.

The grown-ups, meanwhile, were getting on with the serious business of winning and losing for bigger stakes.

Francesca Schiavone, who charmed Paris with her breathtaking win over Sam Stosur and is seeded sixth, widened her fan base among commentators struggling with pronunciation when she beat the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-0.

The Italian, in the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows for the second time, said: “I feel better than when I [won] the French Open, because I know how to do it and how to win a match like this.” Ana Ivanovic, number one in the world two years ago, learned in a minute under an hour that the defending champion Kim Clijsters resides in a different universe. The Belgian won 6-2, 6-1, another lopsided score at these championships to invite the suspicion that women’s tennis is a most uneven version of the sport. If the distaff side want equal pay, they should provide equal entertainment.

“I’ve been improving every match,” Clijsters said. “The pressure is a privilege. It’s something that comes because you’ve done well in the past.” She contested the view that her comeback last year was designed to prove something to other people. She did it to justify tennis as a profession to herself.

“I wouldn’t have been satisfied being ranked in the top 20 and just playing tournaments here and there and not competing for titles,” she said. “I don’t know if I would have still been going if I felt, physically I couldn’t handle it or if, tennis-wise, I wasn’t able to produce the same kind of level.” The Belgian, the only mother left in the tournament, remains one of the most articulate players on the circuit. It is a pity she didn’t have more time on court to entertain a crowd hungry for some quality tennis on the women’s side.

Serena Williams, nursing a cut foot, watched sister Venus, on one leg, get the better of Shahar Peer, 7-6, 6-3, despite serving five double faults.

David Ferrer justified his 10th seeding with a sound 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2 win over fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

Guardian Service

Flushing Meadows Results

WOMEN'S SINGLES: Fourth round: (2) Kim Clijsters (Bel) bt Ana Ivanovic (Ser) 6-2 6-1 (6) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt (20) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 6-3 6-0; (3) Venus Williams (USA) bt (16) Shahar Peer (Isr) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

MEN'S SINGLES: Third round: (10) David Ferrer (Spa) bt Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spa) 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 6-2; (8) Fernando Verdasco (Spa) bt (31) David Nalbandian (Arg) 6-2 3-6 6-3 6-2; (20) Sam Querrey (USA) bt (14) Nicolas Almagro (Spa) 6-3 6-4 6-4; (23) Feliciano Lopez (Spa) bt Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr) 6-3 4-0 ret; (3) Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt James Blake (USA) 6-1 7-6 (7-4) 6-3; (1) Rafael Nadal (Spa) bt Gilles Simon (Fra) 6-4 6-4 6-2.