Bad Ankle vs. Bad Nerves

Kim Clijsters, the Australian Open's defending women's champion, rolled her ankle in the seventh game of her fourth-round match against Li Na on Sunday and played the rest of the match with less than her usual superb mobility. In this rematch from last year's close final, Li Na should have had a decisive advantage, but she was suffering from a more debilitating malady: nerves. Li had four match points in the second set and just couldn't execute her strokes normally. Kim ended up prevailing 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4. Kim's strokes and Na's are often called mirror images, but while they both hit hard and deep, Kim uses somewhat more topspin, enough to let her swing more freely through patches of nervousness.  Kim's ankle will need to heal quickly for her next round, as she faces Caroline Wozniacki, whose strokes are more consistent than Li's.