• Australian Open, Day Five

Clijsters' serve capitulates in shock exit

Kim Clijsters rues yet another unforced error in her shock defeat to Nadia Petrova © Getty Images

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Third round in pictures

Kim Clijsters' serve crumbled in the Melbourne heat as she crashed out of the Australia Open to Nadia Petrova.

Clijsters had established herself among the favourites to win the year's first Grand Slam after beating Justine Henin to take the Brisbane title, but she produced arguably the worst performance of her career to lose 6-0 6-1 on Friday. Forty-one per cent of first serves in crippled the Belgian's game, allowing Petrova to take full advantage.

Rarely has the Hisense Arena been reduced to such a stunned silence as Clijsters did not get near to her best form, committing 17 unforced errors in a first set that lasted just 18 minutes. Not until the 10th game did Clijsters even register a game, her only one of the contest.

In fairness to Petrova though, the second set featured some high class tennis from the Russian, who remained unbreakable behind a serve that dropped just two points. Having needed 18 minutes for the first set, she required another 34 to close out the match, registering one of the biggest shocks of recent times to set up a potential clash with compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova.

An out-of-sorts Jelena Jankovic made a surprise exit at the hands of Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko on Friday in a 6-2 6-3 loss. Bondarenko chased down everything and capitalised on the former world No.1's 40 unforced errors to clinch a fourth round berth - her best ever showing in Melbourne.

Jankovic said: "Unfortunately today really wasn't my day. You know, I was hitting some balls short, and then some balls I went for maybe a little bit too much. I made a lot of errors that I shouldn't have made." Bondarenko face Zheng Jie in the fourth round.

The dream comeback to Grand Slam tennis rolls on for Justine Henin after she fought back from a set and a break down to knock off Russian seed Alisa Kleybanova 3-6 6-4 6-2. It was Henin's 500th career win - a fitting statistic given the way the Belgian defied the plus-30 degree temperatures, a challenging opponent and her own physical fatigue to find the road to victory and a place in the fourth round.

Henin's next test will come as something of a surprise too after qualifer Yanina Wickmayer continued her dream run against Sara Errani. Wickmayer, who has now gone further in the tournament than compatriot Clijsters, recovered from a second-set wobble to chalk up a 6-1 6-7(4) 6-3 win.

Dinara Safina had no such troubles in blasting past top British player Elena Baltacha in straight sets. Despite Baltacha's best efforts, second seed Safina was too strong and too good in the sweltering conditions, securing a 6-1 6-2 victory in just under an hour. Safina awarded herself a modest 7/10 for the performance, sending a warning to her rivals that her best is yet to come.

That warning will be of concern to Maria Kirilenko, who moved herself into Safina's firing line by beating Roberta Vinci to reach the fourth round. Russian Kirilenko was made to work hard for victory by the Italian, eventually progressing 7-5 7-6(4).

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