Sept. 12: Kim Clijsters won her second consecutive US Open championship and third overall on Saturday, easily beating Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 in a final that lasted 59 minutes and lacked any drama.
Clijsters is the first woman since Venus Williams in 2000-01 to win the title in Flushing Meadows two years in a row. And the Belgian’s US Open winning streak is actually up to 21 matches because she also won the 2005 title. She missed the tournament in 2006 because of injuries, including wrist surgery, and skipped it the next two years while taking time off to get married and have a baby.
“I’m glad to be standing here as the winner now. New York is an amazing place for me,” said the 27-year-old. “The US Open brings nothing but happiness to my tennis life,” Clijsters added.
Her two-and-a-half year old daughter, Jada, was in the stands on Saturday night, munching on a thick slice of watermelon. Last year in New York, when Jada pranced around the court during the postmatch ceremony, Clijsters became the first mother since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980 to take home a major trophy.
“It’s been an incredible year being back. This is the first time I’ve been able to defend my title here at the US Open,” Clijsters said, reaching down to fix Jada’s hair, getting blown about in the breeze. “The conditions have been very hard the last two weeks with wind — I’ve always tried to keep her curls down.”
“I’ve always felt more comfortable on this surface. Not just this year, but even when I was 14, 15, 16,” the 27-year-old Clijsters said in an interview the week before the US Open began. “Everything comes easier.”
After losing the first four Grand Slam finals of her career, Clijsters has won her last three. Perhaps that will give some hope to Russia’s Zvonareva, who is now winless from two major championship matches, after losing to Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final in July.
The second-seeded Clijsters was too dominant; the seventh-seeded Zvonareva too shaky. Over and over, Clijsters would scramble to balls that seemed out of reach and get them back over the net, sometimes doing full splits right there along the baseline. She compiled a 17-6 edge in winners, and made nine fewer unforced errors than Zvonareva, 24-15.
Federer out
On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic played the spoiler as he beat Roger Federer in five dramatic sets to set up the final against Rafael Nadal.
The third-seeded Serb saved two match points in the final set as he earned a 5-7, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 win over the five-time champion, denied a seventh straight final in New York.
Top seed Nadal was barely tested in a 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 dismissal of Mikhail Youzhny for a place in his first career final at Flushing Meadows.
Federer went down after three and three quarter hours on a forehand wide, the first match point for Djokovic.