23 Jan 2012

Clijsters, Federer through to quarters in Melbourne

11:25 am on 23 January 2012

Week one at the Australian Open tennis tournament ended with am incredible comeback by the defending women's champion Kim Clijsters and a crushing win for Roger Federer over the rising home star Bernard Tomic.

Clijsters recovered from a painful ankle sprain in the opening set against China's Li Na, and the Belgian star had to save four second set match points before taking the match 4-6 7-6 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.

Her next opponent is the world number one Caroline Wozniacki.

Roger Federer dashed the dreams of home fans with a crushing win over 19-year-old Bernard Tomic 6-4 6-2 6-2, and the 30 year old Swiss faces the in-form Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in the quarter-finals.

Australia's remaining men's hope Lleyton Hewitt will have to upset the world number one Novak Djokovic today to make the quarter-finals.