Tennis news: Kim Clijsters’ stunning performance at U.S. Open
Kim Clijsters defeated Vera Zvonareva to win her second straight U.S. Open title. Striking every ball and delivering most shots where she wanted to, Clijsters proved to be the most dominant player in the U.S. Open 2010.
She gave one of her best performance; she had never produced such a performance before. This is the second consecutive U.S. Open championship she has won on the blue courts. She easily defeated a shaky Zvonareva by 6-2, 6-1 Saturday in a match that lasted for 59 minutes.
"It's always an honour to go back to a place, especially a Grand Slam, where you've done well and you've won, and you want to bring your best tennis again," Clijsters said. "I know if I bring my best, I'm capable of beating the best players."
That’s what she did, keeping her words she defeated Venus Williams in the semi-finals, although Zvonareva, who was the also the runner-up at Wimbledon in July, hardly presented much of a challenge on that night.
The second seeded Clijsters justified her seeding and was too dominant; the seventh-seeded Zvonareva was too shaky.
"She didn't really give me chances to get into the match," Zvonareva said. "But I also think that physically today she was just much better."
After Williams 2000-1, Clijsters is the first woman to win the title in Flushing Meadows back-to-back. Moreover, Clijsters’ winning streak is actually up to 21 matches because she also won the 2005 title. Unfortunately she missed the tournament in 2006 due to injuries, including wrist surgery and skipped next two years to get married and have a baby.
Her 2 and a half year old daughter Jada spent her evening in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium, chewing thick slice of watermelon other than savouring some candy.
It seemed bit like “take your daughter to work day” except for the fact that only a numbered children get a chance to watch their mother winning a Grand Slam title.
"It's been an incredible year being back. This is the first time I've been able to defend my title here at the U.S. Open," Clijsters said, reaching down to fix Jada's hair, getting mussed 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'm always hoping."
Clijsters was awarded with $2.2 million in addition to another championship. The winner was awarded with $1.7 million, plus another $500,000 for finishing second in the U.S. Open Series.
The second-seeded always felt comfortable on the hard courts, since she was 14, 15 and 16. Everything easily came her way. Over and over Clijsters would scramble to the balls that seemed out of reach and get them back over the net, sometimes doing full splits right here along the baseline. She made nine fewer unforced errors.
Zvonareva made 13 unforced errors in the first set, including dumping a backhand into the net on the last point, whereas Clijsters needed only four winners in that set.
But things only got worse for Zvonareva, as she lose her temper during matches.
She yelled at herself after two unforced errors in the second game of that set and made double fault to get broken at love. The seventh-seeded wasted six match points before begging the chair umpire to let her have some scissors so she could cut tape off her knees.
After showing her best performance, Clijsters picked up Jada in her one hand and the trophy in her right hand as photographers snapped away.
Moments later, Jada pointed to the nearby cameras and said “No photos.”
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