New Your: Kim Clijsters won her second consecutive U.S. Open championship and third overall 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 U.S. 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.
Her 2 ½-year-old daughter, Jada, was in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium 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.
On Saturday, in addition to another silver cup, Clijsters was awarded $2.2 million {hbox}" the champion's check of $1.7 million, plus another $500,000 for finishing second in the U.S. Open Series standings that take into account hard-court warm up tournaments.
"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 U.S. Open began. "Everything comes easier."
After losing the first four Grand Slam finals of her career, Belgium's 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.
Not since 1995 has a U.S. Open women's final lasted three sets, and this one wasn't about to end that trend. Indeed, you have to go back to 1976 to find a women's final in which the loser won only three games.
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 U.S. 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.
Her 2 ½-year-old daughter, Jada, was in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium 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.
On Saturday, in addition to another silver cup, Clijsters was awarded $2.2 million {hbox}" the champion's check of $1.7 million, plus another $500,000 for finishing second in the U.S. Open Series standings that take into account hard-court warm up tournaments.
"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 U.S. Open began. "Everything comes easier."
After losing the first four Grand Slam finals of her career, Belgium's 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.
Not since 1995 has a U.S. Open women's final lasted three sets, and this one wasn't about to end that trend. Indeed, you have to go back to 1976 to find a women's final in which the loser won only three games.
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