18 Jan 2012

Clijsters just misses out on fifth Melbourne 'double bagel'

3:43 pm on 18 January 2012

The defending champion Kim Clijsters flirted with dishing out the fifth Australian Open 'double bagel' of her tennis career as she steamrolled her way past France's Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-0 6-1 and into the third round.

The former world number one was rarely troubled by the Frenchwoman and despite Foretz Garcon managing to hold serve in the second game of the second set to end Clijsters' attempt to move past Court, the Belgian completed the victory in just 47 minutes.

Clijsters has recorded four previous 6-0 6-0 victories at Melbourne Park, the most recent of which was her first round victory over Dinara Safina in 2011.

Tennis Australia says that former champion Margaret Court has also recorded four 'double bagels' at the tournament.

Meanwhile the men's seventh-seed Tomas Berdych has reached the third round of the Australian Open with a straight-sets win over Olivier Rochus.

The Czech powered past the Belgian 6-1 6-0 7-6 (7-4) to book a date on Friday with either South African Kevin Anderson or Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky.