Retired Clijsters beats world No 40 Fernandez in Florida exhibition
Clijsters last played an official match at Indian Wells in October 2021
Kim Clijsters at the 2021 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells
Image Credit: Photo News / Panoramic
Former world No 1 Kim Clijsters, who announced her third and final retirement from the sport earlier this year, scored a 7-5 upset win over world No 40 Leylah Fernandez, of Canada, at the Bea for Kids Champions Challenge in Orlando, Florida on Sunday.
Clijsters, who last played a tour match at Indian Wells last October, defeated the 2021 US Open finalist 7-5 in the first match of the mixed team event.
In the second match, Jack Sock defeated former Wimbledon semifinalist Sam Querrey 6-3 to take the match into the deciding mixed doubles contest where Sock and Fernandez defeated Querrey and Clijsters 7-6(3) to clinch a 2-1 team win.
This was the second title for Fernandez in the Champions Series circuit, having partnered with Bob Bryan to win in West Virginia in September.
Fernandez and Sock split the first prize of $50,000 while Querrey and Clijsters split the runner-up prize of 25,000.
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