Clijsters crashes to heaviest ever defeat

REIGNING US Open champion Kim Clijsters had a day to forget as she crashed out of the Australian Open yesterday.

The 26-year-old Belgian suffered the worst loss of her professional career as she was thrashed 6-0 6-1 by 19th seed Nadia Petrova under the lights of the Hisense Arena.

There was better news for Justin Henin and Yanina Wickmayer, who both secured victories to set up an all-Belgian fourth-round tie.