Kim Clijsters was defeated by 23rd seed Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4) and Victoria Azarenka lost to 28th seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.

Clijsters, who had won her past 15 matches in Indian Wells, had a 4-0 lead in the third-set tiebreak before losing her momentum. The 20 year old Kleybanova won the final seven points of the match, completing the upset in two hours and 36 minutes when Clijsters put a return into the net on match point.

“I definitely think I let it get away,” said Clijsters. “Credit to her. She played some really good points to get back into it. I think a lot of times I felt like the better I started moving her around, the more she's really good on the run and she really gets those angles where she kept me under pressure.”


With Clijsters’ loss, five of six women’s champions who began the tournament have bowed out of the 2010 BNP Paribas Open. Defending champion Vera Zvonareva, who defeated Latvian Anastasija Sevastova in straight sets earlier Monday, is the last former winner still remaining in the draw.

“I would have, of course, loved to have given myself another shot at trying to get to those quarters, semis, finals,” said Clijsters, who won the Indian Wells title in 2003 and ’05. “I think this is always a tournament that I love to play at.

“A lot of people expect the top players to do well. But you see it more and more that in the early rounds, I think it just becomes a lot tougher… There's a lot of younger girls now who are coming up and make it really tough for us. When you're not playing your absolute best, I think anybody is out there to beat us.”

For Azarenka, this was her earliest exit this season, after reaching the final in Dubai, semi-finals in Sydney and quarter-finals at the Australian Open.


(via BNP Paribas Open, photo/Reuters Pictures)

Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka crash out in third round at Indian Wells