The winds died down today, and a warm sun shone on the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The tournament was rocked by the loss of top seed Kim Clisjters, weakened by illness and unable to counter the solid strokes of the in-form Nathalie Dechy. And the third seed, Kim's fellow Belgian prodigy Justine Henin, came perilously close to meeting the same fate as her consoeur.

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Nathalie Dechy def. Kim Clijsters (1), 6-2, 7-5
Second round
Stadium
Previous head-to-head: Clijsters leads 1-0 (clay, 1999)

This was always going to be a danger match for top seed and 2001 Indian Wells runner-up Kim Clijsters. She had not played since the Australian Open in January because of a stress fracture in her right arm. To make matters worse, she picked up a sinus infection and ear infection two days ago. And Kim could not afford to be anything less than her best aganinst the in-form Nathalie Dechy, a former top ten player who reached the semifinals of Scottsdale last week and conceded only one game in her first-round win over Céline Beigbeder yesterday.

The first set was a disaster for Clijsters, as she piled blunder upon blunder, ending with a total of 26 unforced errors in the first set alone. Dechy began with a strategy of controlling play with deep placements and well-timed approaches to the net, but Clijsters was so inaccurate that any strategy would have been a winning one.

Clijsters began to find the range in the second set. She at least kept the score on serve until 5-5, at which point she was broken when she was unable to handle a penetrating Dechy backhand. The slender Frenchwoman promptly served out the match at love, and the top seed was history. Make the final: 6-2, 7-5. The unhappy and unwell Clijsters ended the match with 55 unforced errors (to 24 winners), and 6 double faults.

Clijsters should recover soon from her illness, which she puts down to "bad timing". One just had to listen to her scratchy voice and cough to know that she was under the weather ("Her voice is lower than Lleyton's," joked a reporter). But the state of her arm, which is still in the rehabilitation stage, is a longer-term problem that clearly is a concern for the world number three. "I mean, it's still not 100 percent. It's an injury that takes a few months to heal." After the upcoming Miami tournamen t, she plans to stay off the tour for five weeks or so, and not return until sometime during the European clay court campaign, perhaps as late as the Italian Open in May. "It's a very hard thing," said the evidently worried Clijsters.

Nathalie Dechy was glowing after the win, her first ever win over a top five player, a confirmation of her fine showing in Scottsdale last week. "My game is really getting strong in the last two or three months. I really worked hard this winter and I'm really getting back very good." Dechy's third round opponent will be the Russian Anastasia Myskina, the 28th seed. "Myskina came back from injury, and since last summer she's playing well," noted Nathalie. "Certainly not to be taken lightly."

Justine Henin (3) def. Maja Matevzic, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
Second round
Stadium
Previous head-to-head: first meeting

Maja Matevzic came tantalizingly close this afternoon to the biggest win of her young career. The 21-year-old Slovenian battled a wobbly third-seeded Justine Henin (pictured at right) tooth and nail for 2 hours and 23 minutes before finally losing with honour.

Matevzic is a 5' 9" (1.75 m) left-hander, slender, with short, fair hair. Despite her good size, she does not really boast of a power game. Most of her first serves were around the 90 mph mark. Maja manoeuvres the ball around the court with excellent placement, often going to a slow, deep slice that she often follows to the net. Matevzic, who grew up admiring serve-volleyer Martina Navratilova, closes the net decisively and is a fine volleyer. In fact, she claims that grass his her preferred surface, d espite the lack of any grass courts in Slovenia. "I think it's good for my game because I can do everything on grass. I can go to the net. I can do a lot of shots I like to play."

Henin's timing was off today (59 unforced errors), and none of her strokes seemed in top working order, but the problems the young Belgian star was having were compounded by the awkward nature of her opponent's game. Henin feeds off the pace of her opponents, but in this match she had little pace to work with and was mistiming too many of her strokes.

With Matevzic serving at 7-5, 4-4, Henin was teetering on the brink of a shocking defeat. But Henin's relentless attacking produced three break points, the last of which she converted when a Matevzic forehand pass landed just barely wide. Serving to level the match, Justine made no mistake, converting her first set point with a crisp backhand volley.

The third set started badly for Matevzic, as she had a letdown and was broken at love. To her credit, Maja did not roll over, but hung tough with the favoured Henin. Maja finally got the break back when a nervous Henin misfired badly on two forehands, and it 4-4 we were in for an exciting conclusion. Matevzic had a 40-0 in this ninth game, but lost her chances with some nervous play. Henin won this key game on a spectacular point: with the players nose to nose at the net, a rapid-fire volleying exchang e ended with a stretching, reflex Henin backhand into the open court.

Henin now had a 5-4 lead, and served for the match. The Belgian dynamo held at love, with Matevzic sending a backhand beyond the baseline on match point. Understandably happy and relieved, Henin whacked a ball high into the stands in celebration and waved to the cheering crowd.

Matevzic describes herself as shy, and indeed she accompanied her press conference comments with a pleasant but timid smile. The smile confused some reporters, who were amazed that Maja wasn't angry that she lost a matchy she came close to winning. "You're laughing!", exclaimed one scandalized scribe. But Matevzic shrugged it off. "There will still be matches," philosophized the calm Slovenian.

In fact, we were also surprised that Henin was not angry about almost losing to a modestly-ranked opponent. But Justine gave full credit to Matevzic for pushing her to the brink of defeat. "She had nothing to lose, and she wanted to win this match. I think she tried everything. She played so well."

Henin's game featured 65 trips to the net, a very high number for her. Justine's net play improved as the match went on, and was probably what saved her in the end. And she promised that that the aggressive style that helped her turn back Matevzic's challenge will become a regular feature of her game, noting that the same tactics worked well against Venus Williams in her narrow loss to the American star in Antwerp last month. "I worked very hard on this in the last two weeks. I will try in my next match [her opponent will be Adriana Serra Zanetti] also to do this, because I think in the next years if I want to have a long career, I will have to play like this."

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Wandering in the desert

Seeds stand tall in round two

Granted, the top seed went down in flames today. In general, however, the favourites held up well. Out of sixteen seeded players in action today, only three tasted defeat: Clijsters was joined by #23 Cristina Torrens Valero (lost 6-4, 6-1 to Cara Black), and #29 Conchita Martínez (edged by Lilia Osterloh, 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 7-5).

It should be noted that all of the upset perpetrators have similarly grabbed headlines at Indian Wells in the past. Dechy produced upset wins over Anna Kournikova and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario in the past two editions of this tourney. Black upset Jennifer Capriati in 2000 (Jennifer has not been seen at this tournament since), and took a set from Venus Williams last year. Osterloh's feat was more recent: two days ago, when she sent Kournikova packing ? literally, it seems (see below).

Hingis update

Yesterday we mentioned that second-seeded Martina Hingis had withdrawn from the doubles tournament and was listed as only "probable" for singles, because of right wrist tendinitis. We saw Hingis on the practice courts this afternoon, and she showed no sign of discomfort. This lends ammunition to the speculation that her "injury" and withdrawal from doubles were designed to cover for her doubles partner, Anna Kournikova. Rumour has it that Kournikova flew back to Florida immediately after h er first round singles loss on Wednesday. We shall see about that wrist tomorrow when Hingis takes on Silvija Talaja?.

Navratoliva/Zvereva come up short

Yesterday we erred in referring to Martina Navratoliva's surprise doubles partner Natasha Zvereva as "recently retired". Today, a WTA staffer informed me that the doubles legend never did officially announce her retirement, despite being inactive for almost two years with chronic back problems. Be that as it may, the popular Navratoliva/Zvereva tandem did not make it past the first hurdle, losing 6-4, 7-5 to the wild card duo of Melissa Middleton and Brie Rippner. Zvereva is clearly heavi er than in her glory days, and her reflexes were sadly lacking in the rapid-fire exchanges. And while Navratilova can still volley and poach with the best of them, her floating serves were all too often met with crunching returns by her relatively modest opponents. It will be interesting to see whether Zvereva will continue in her attempt to rekindle a glorious career that saw her win an astonishing 82 doubles titles, and, if so, who her partner will be.

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Quotable quotes

Nathalie Dechy had this delicious response to a question about the health problems from which Kim Clijsters was suffering:
- Question: Kim told us because she has an ear infection, she couldn't hear the ball bounce. Wouldn't that be an enormous handicap, not being able to hear the ball bounce?"
- Dechy: "Yes, and not being able to see the ball also, I guess."

Struggling Elena Dementieva turned in yet another uneven performance in a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win over Amy Fraxier, and talked about her inner battles: "You know, I'm trying to play aggressive. But when I start to play aggressive in the beginning, I do so many unforced errors. That's what makes me defensive and wait for the fault. I don't like to play this way. I will try to do everything possible to come back to the game I play before."