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Navratilova`s record bid foiled by Clijsters-Sugiyama
London, July 05: Kim Clijsters of Belgium and Japan`s Ai Sugiyama denied 46-year-old Martina Navratilova a chance of a 20th Wimbledon title yesterday, beating the veteran and Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-4 2-6 6-4 in the women`s doubles quarter-finals.
London, July 05: Kim Clijsters of Belgium and Japan's Ai Sugiyama denied 46-year-old Martina Navratilova a chance of a 20th Wimbledon title yesterday, beating the veteran and Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-4 2-6 6-4 in the women's doubles quarter-finals.
Navratilova, with nine singles crowns, seven women's doubles and three mixed doubles successes to her name, was playing an astonishing 300th match at the all England club since her 1976 debut.
She came here hoping to go level with Billie Jean King, whose 20 crowns are a Wimbledon record, comprising six singles wins, 10 doubles and four mixed triumphs between 1961 and 1979.
But Navratilova, a Czech-born naturalised American, was unable to match an aggressive showing by her rivals on this occasion as Clijsters and Sugiyama moved through to a meeting with American fourth seeds Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond.
The Belgian-Japanese pair won that one, after a second-set lapse, 6-1 0-6 6-4 and now meet top seeds Paola Suarez of Argentina and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain who defeated Russian 15th seeds Elena Dementieva and Lina Krasnoroutskaya, conquerors earlier in the tournament of the Williams sisters, 3-6 6-1 6-2.
Clijsters was happy to have more targets to aim at having put Sugiyama out of the singles last week before crashing out in the semi-finals Thursday evening to Venus Williams.
Bureau Report
Navratilova, with nine singles crowns, seven women's doubles and three mixed doubles successes to her name, was playing an astonishing 300th match at the all England club since her 1976 debut.
She came here hoping to go level with Billie Jean King, whose 20 crowns are a Wimbledon record, comprising six singles wins, 10 doubles and four mixed triumphs between 1961 and 1979.
But Navratilova, a Czech-born naturalised American, was unable to match an aggressive showing by her rivals on this occasion as Clijsters and Sugiyama moved through to a meeting with American fourth seeds Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond.
The Belgian-Japanese pair won that one, after a second-set lapse, 6-1 0-6 6-4 and now meet top seeds Paola Suarez of Argentina and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain who defeated Russian 15th seeds Elena Dementieva and Lina Krasnoroutskaya, conquerors earlier in the tournament of the Williams sisters, 3-6 6-1 6-2.
Clijsters was happy to have more targets to aim at having put Sugiyama out of the singles last week before crashing out in the semi-finals Thursday evening to Venus Williams.
Bureau Report