Kim Clijsters racked up her second successive loss as she fell in the opening round at Indian Wells.
The Belgian lost to Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 1-6, 6-2, 2-6.
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Four-time Grand Slam winner Clijsters was playing just her second tournament of the year following knee surgery.
The 38-year-old also suffered a first-round exit at last week’s Chicago Fall Tennis Classic.
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Clijsters returned to action in February 2020 after retiring in 2012. But her comeback was curtailed by injury in October 2020.
“When I started this, I wanted to give it a really good shot for two years – those two years will end at the end of this year,” the Clijsters had told Tennis Majors.
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Clijsters is a mother of three children and said her family is still adjusting to her being back on the tennis tour.
“There’s moments where my son is like, ‘Hey Mom, I want you to lose tomorrow so that means that you can come home,’ or it’s like, ‘Hey mom, we were cheering for you when we saw you on TV, and we want you to win,’ so it changes!” Clijsters added.
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“That’s part of this process in general, it’s not going to be a smooth ride and that’s what I’m going to try to improve every time I’m out there,” she said after her defeat in Indian Wells.
This is the second time that Clijsters is coming out of retirement.
