The American Open is the only Grand Slam tournament Clijsters has ever won - in 2005 against Mary Pierce. Her first match against Monica Bartoli was done in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. The same fate lay in store for the Swiss Patty Schnyder, 6-2, 7-5. In the following round, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia managed to salvage the second set 6-4, but then had to give way to the Clijsters onslaught, losing 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

It took Dinara Safina, currently the top women's player in the world, to stop the juggernaut in a match lasting only 75 minutes. Clijsters took the first two games, and that was the end of the set for her, as Safina made it 6-2. In the second set, Clijsters again went to 2-0, then 4-2 and 40-15 before Safina came back to win 7-5.

"Dinara was very strong today; I have nothing but praise for her," Clijsters told the VRT after the match. "Especially in the first set, she made very few mistakes. She really shut me out, constantly playing very deep and giving me barely a chance to open up the game."

"I think I was fortunate that Kim had to play three sets yesterday against Kuznetsova," Safina admitted.

"It's not easy to be out of competition for two years and then have to play a match like this the day after a three-setter. I think that worked to my advantage."