Tough test gives Clijsters confidence as she moves on in US Open

Comeback on track for Clijsters at US Open

NEW YORK — A tougher match felt like a better experience for Kim Clijsters, who kept her comeback rolling Wednesday with another win at the U.S. Open.

The 2005 champion, returning to competitive tennis after a two-year break, defeated 14th-seeded Marion Bartoli 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the third round.

This win included plenty of nervous moments and gave Clijsters a better read on where she is than a 6-1, 6-1 win two days previous.

“There were a few things that I took away from that match that were going well,” she said. “But this match, it’s that mental satisfaction that you have after a match like this. You say, OK, I stayed focused, I stayed aggressive and really worked out a game plan that beat her today.”

Clijsters has a third-round match against another Belgian, Kirsten Flipkens, with a possible meeting against third-seeded Venus Williams looming in the fourth round.

That would give her an even better idea of where she stands.

“I haven’t played the big ones yet, Venus, Serena, Sharapova, Dementieva,” Clijsters said. “Hopefully, I’ll give myself a shot at doing that here.”

IN HER DEFENSE: Maybe it’s because he’s been in the same spot, maybe it’s a matter of sticking up for his family, or quite probably, it’s a little of both.

Whatever the case, Marat Safin was not shy in coming to the defense of his younger sister, Dinara Safina, who is ranked first in the world but didn’t play like it in a difficult, three-set victory Tuesday.

“The poor girl, she’s trying her best,” said Safin, a former No. 1 himself, who lost his first-round match in his final U.S. Open appearance. “She’s doing really well. She gets the attention, but not the kind of attention that a person deserves, especially when you’re No. 1 in the world.”

Safina’s ranking has been criticized because she reached the top without having won a Grand Slam tournament, while Serena Williams remains stuck at No. 2, but owns this year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon titles. Safina, who has reached three Grand Slam finals and been blown out in each, will remain No. 1 no matter how the U.S. Open ends.

Serena questioned the ranking system in women’s tennis earlier this year, but would not take the bait in the lead-up to the U.S. Open. Her sister, Venus, also refused to get drawn in.

“Well, my thought is that if you play consistent, you can be very highly ranked,” Venus Williams said. “I guess it’s all about playing consistent these days.”

Safin was much more outspoken.

“I feel like she deserves a little bit more than what she’s getting right now,” he said. “You can’t imagine how crazy she is about sport. I don’t think there is one person in the world who is more professional than her.”

KING FOR A DAY: Into the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, Vania King conceded she wasn’t sure if she wanted to play tennis.

As a 17-year-old in 2006, the American won her first WTA Tour title and reached a career-best 50th in the rankings. But by the end of last season, she had been struggling to find motivation for about 2½ years.

For so long, that motivation had come from the outside, from her father — who introduced her to tennis and once served as her coach.

“I felt kind of stuck,” King recalled. “I didn’t know which way to go because I felt like I had only one option, which was tennis.”

Then during the last offseason, King started working with Tarik Benhabiles at his academy in Florida. Surrounded by other players working to achieve the same goal, King finally found that motivation within herself.

Some motivation.

King upset No. 15 seed Samantha Stosur 7-5, 6-4 on Wednesday. An accomplished doubles player, King’s ranking had fallen to 114. She made it in the singles draw as a wild-card entry.

She wasn’t looking at this as a career-defining victory.

“I don’t want to think of this as one specific tournament,” she said. “I think it’s a work in progress, and it’s the work of the whole year that’s come to this point — and it’s going to continue in the future.”

AMELIE’S DECISION: After a lopsided loss to the 39th-ranked player in the world, two-time Grand Slam winner Amelie Mauresmo fielded questions about retirement.

She’s 30, has won one tournament over the past two years, has now been bounced from two of this year’s grand slams in the first round and has slipped from first in the world in 2004 to 17th now.

She said she will assess her status at the end of the year, but doesn’t want to make any hasty decisions.

“I don’t want to make the decision to stop and then after two, six, eight months thinking, it was not quite the time yet,” she said. “Because then it’s too hard, I would say, probably to make a comeback as Kim (Clijsters) is making now, given the age.

“But for sure I don’t want to be in this situation.”

She fell 6-4, 6-0 to Aleksandra Wozniak after blowing a 4-3 lead in the first set of what could wind up as her final Grand Slam match.

Asked what factors she’ll consider as she decides to stay or go, she said she needs to find: “The will deep inside to really have the energy, and to go out there every day, and to work and being able to try to stay at the best level that I can be.”

NET CORDS: Wednesday was a terrible day for French players, who went 1-6. The only victory? 13th-seeded Gael Monfils’ win over countryman Jeremy Chardy. … With Serena Williams still waiting to play Wednesday night, there were 10 Americans left in the men’s draw and six on the women’s. At least one will lose Thursday in the match between Kevin Kim and Sam Querrey. … Safina was bumped over to Louis Armstrong court for her second-round match Thursday against Kristina Barrois. … Bob and Mike Bryan begin the quest for their eighth Grand Slam title Thursday against Jose Acasuso and Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina.

AP Sports Writer Rachel Cohen contributed to this report.