Family duties mellow Clijsters

Marriage and motherhood have not diminished Kim Clijsters's will to win. She says it's just that whether she wins or loses is not all that counts for her now. The 26-year-old Belgian defeated third seed Venus Williams on Sunday to reach the US Open quarter-finals and write the latest chapter in her remarkable comeback campaign.

She shed tears of joy after sending down an ace to clinch the win 6-0, 0-6, 6-4, but she said that was less to do with making the second week of a Grand Slam event and more to do with the support she had received from the crowd.

The moment was quickly put aside and it was time to go back to her hotel room, where ex-basketballer husband Brian Lynch and 18-month-old daugher Jade would be waiting for her.

"You know, in the past I wanted to win a lot. Sometimes maybe too much even," she said.

"Now I know that everything that I'm doing for my tennis is with full focus and I'm taking my time to work on the weaknesses that I still have to work on and everything.

"But I think there's also that other life that I have that keeps me away from tennis - whereas in the past, it was 24/7 tennis.

"It's nice now to have that change.

When I go home after I've been training here during a day off, it doesn't matter to my daughter or my husband whether I won the day before or not.

"That's a nice feeling to have, knowing, OK, I'm mommy, and she doesn't care too much about anything else." Next up for Clijsters en route to a possible semi-final against defending champion and tournament favourite Serena Williams, is China's Li Na, a player she says who has given her problems in the past.

Clijsters walked away from tennis while still in her prime in May, 2007, saying that she was tired of all the injuries and struggling with her motivation.

AFP