Kim Clijsters of Belgium

In a tournament where Serena Williams is out due to injury, consistency hs become the key to the tactics of the higher seeds. 2nd seed Kim Clijsters knows the danger of laying back and allowing lesser players to find winning ways. 19-year old Czechoslavakian Petra Kvitova is one of those dangerous players that will be in the headlines within one or two years and is just one b ig upset away from breaking though.

After a slow start on Friday, Clijsters kept the young left-hander at bay. The popular Belgian lost the first three games before running off 12 straight games to win 6-3, 6-0 over a future star-to-be.

The win set up an inriquing match between Clijsters and crowd pleaser Ana Ivanovic. Ivanovic is playing, and more importantly, serving with a free stroke, a steady ball toss and a newfound confidence that paved the way to a 7-5, 6-0 win over wildcard Frenchwoman Virginnie Razzano.

The two former number ones are both attempting comebacks and while Clijsters won in New York last season, she has been out for a while with a leg injury. Ivanovic simply disappeared as she developed a psychological problems with her serve.

Samantha Stosur

Two other big names emerged from Friday’s matches on a crash course . Former two-time Champion at the Open, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova has recently begun to swing back into competitive form. When new Russian star, Maria Kirilenko, won on Thursday, it set up an interesting match between one of Russia’s senior stars against a strong rookie. Kirilenko has won three of their four matches this season, but Kuznetsova is a much more formidable opponent on the hard court surface.

Third seeded Venus Williams is keeping a well-dressed low profile in her Open quest. The 30-yeaar old American needed just 66 minutes to bump Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella out of the tournament with a 6-2, 6-1 win.

With her defeat of Sara Errani (6-2, 5-3), Samantha Stosur kept the dream match between Stosur and 12th seeded Elena Dementieva aiive. Although haing a terrific season, the Australian is just 1-4 lifetime against the smooth Russian.

In this match, the player who serves better will win. Stosur is regaded to have on of the best serves in the game while Dementieva seems to have lost confidemce in her serve. There are very few players with groundstrokes as solid as the Russian’s.