Tennis-Clijsters comes up short at Indian Wells but aims to battle on

Belgium's Kim Clijsters hits a shot during a practice session at Melbourne Park, Australia, January 17, 2016. The Australian Open tennis tournament starts January 18. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

(Reuters) -Former world number one Kim Clijsters said she knew her return to tennis was never going to be a smooth ride after the Belgian's opening round defeat to Katarina Siniakova at Indian Wells dropped her to 0-5 since coming back to the tour.

The 38-year-old, who retired for a second time in 2012 but returned to action in February last year, went down 6-1 2-6 6-2 to the Czech.