Return of the Kim

She's ba-ack!

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That's right - blonde and bouncy, with entourage and baby Jada in tow, splitstastic Kim Clijsters is back from retirement and she's back with a win!

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And it was not a bad win at all, mark my words - I just went on and on yesterday about Marion Bartoli is not at the top of the game whatever anyone might say, but hello? she won a major tennis tournament a week ago! Like, a big one! Where she beat Venus Williams! And now Kimmy's gone and climbed all over her!

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I like Kim Clijsters. I'm not going to deny it. Sure, she's probably not my favourite player to watch in the world - I wince every time she does the splits - but she's somehow compelling. And I get the sense that she's brought a little somethin' somethin' back with her from the land of retirement and responsible parenthood - joy.

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We saw Justine Henin collapse when she lost it. Kimmy left the game because, presumably, she didn't like it so much any more. Looks like she didn't realise quite how much she'd miss it, because here she is on the comeback trail, and she's back beating the creme. Tennis was routine, all she had ever known before. Now she's tried something different, but tennis still takes the cake. If you love something, let it go, and if it comes back it's yours - that's how you know - and Kimmy's come back to tennis and tennis has come back to Kimmy.

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Welcome back, Kimmy. May your smile ever be radiant, your serve ever powerful and your splits as splitstastic as ever!

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Today's Results
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Rogers Cup (Montreal)

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Andy Murray def. Jeremy Chardy, 6-4 6-2

Nikolay Davydenko def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2)

Fernando Verdasco def. Feliciano Lopez, 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-1

Tommy Robredo def. Alex Bogomolov Jr., 6-4 6-2

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Lleyton Hewitt, 6-1 6-4

Victor Hanescu def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-4 6-3

John Isner def. Jesse Levine, 6-3 6-4

Andrey Golubev def. Radek Stepanek, 6-3 6-4

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Tomas Berdych, 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (9-11) 6-4

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Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open (Cincinatti)

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Dinara Safina def. Roberta Vinci, 2-6 7-5 6-4

Alona Bondarenko def. Nadia Petrova, 6-2 6-3

Flavia Pennetta def. Ayumi Morita, 6-2 6-3

Peng Shuai def. Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2 6-1

Sorana Cirstea def. Meghann Shaughnessy, 7-5 7-5

Daniela Hantuchova def. Sara Errani, 3-6 6-3 6-1

Agnes Szavay def. Urszula Radwanska, 7-5 7-5

Alisa Kleybanova def. Aravane Rezai, 6-3 6-3

Yanina Wickmayer def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-3 6-4

Maria Kirilenko def. Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-4 6-1