Venus stops Clijsters to win Billie Jean Cup
Source: Agencies |
March 3, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
VENUS Williams defeated Kim Clijsters 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 at Madison Square Garden in New York to win the Billie Jean King Cup in the BNP Paribas Showdown.
The 26-year-old Belgian struggled early against Williams before finding a groove in front of a very Venus-friendly crowd of 11,702 in the second set.
"In the beginning it took some time to find an aggressive game," Clijsters said. "If you're not feeling the ball 100 percent, it's very hard. I kind of just had to look for my game a little bit, really look for my position on court. I got better as my match went on."
Williams broke Clijsters in the first game and then held each of her serves to win the first set.
In the second set, Williams again won the first two games but got sloppy, volleying one break point wide and hitting another past the baseline. Clijsters held her serve for the rest of the set to win.
Williams was down 3-4 in the final set but broke back when Clijsters hit a volley into the net on break point. The pair held their serve the rest of the way until Clijsters, down 15-40, hit the break point long to hand Williams the win and US$400,000 of the US$1.2 million prize money.
"I always feel really confident on match point, so I love getting to that match point," Williams said. "At quadruple match point I felt nice."
King did not attend the exhibition because she is recovering from a recent double-knee replacement.
Earlier, Clijsters beat Ana Ivanovic 7-6 in the first of the one-set semifinals, outscoring the 22-year-old Serb and 2008 French Open champion 7-2 in the tiebreaker.
Down 5-4, Clijsters came from 0-30 to hold serve and won the next two games. Ivanovic won the 12th game to force the tiebreaker.
"Our games in some ways are similar," Ivanovic said. "It was a tough match. I was actually very nervous, but it makes it an important match. I just wanted to do so well."
Williams beat third-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2009 French Open winner, in the second semifinal 6-4. Kuznetsova took a 2-0 lead but struggled with her serve. Down 15-40 in the final game, the 24-year-old Russian double-faulted on her serve to hand Williams the match.
"You would like it to last a little bit longer because one set is very difficult to play," Kuznetsova said.
The 26-year-old Belgian struggled early against Williams before finding a groove in front of a very Venus-friendly crowd of 11,702 in the second set.
"In the beginning it took some time to find an aggressive game," Clijsters said. "If you're not feeling the ball 100 percent, it's very hard. I kind of just had to look for my game a little bit, really look for my position on court. I got better as my match went on."
Williams broke Clijsters in the first game and then held each of her serves to win the first set.
In the second set, Williams again won the first two games but got sloppy, volleying one break point wide and hitting another past the baseline. Clijsters held her serve for the rest of the set to win.
Williams was down 3-4 in the final set but broke back when Clijsters hit a volley into the net on break point. The pair held their serve the rest of the way until Clijsters, down 15-40, hit the break point long to hand Williams the win and US$400,000 of the US$1.2 million prize money.
"I always feel really confident on match point, so I love getting to that match point," Williams said. "At quadruple match point I felt nice."
King did not attend the exhibition because she is recovering from a recent double-knee replacement.
Earlier, Clijsters beat Ana Ivanovic 7-6 in the first of the one-set semifinals, outscoring the 22-year-old Serb and 2008 French Open champion 7-2 in the tiebreaker.
Down 5-4, Clijsters came from 0-30 to hold serve and won the next two games. Ivanovic won the 12th game to force the tiebreaker.
"Our games in some ways are similar," Ivanovic said. "It was a tough match. I was actually very nervous, but it makes it an important match. I just wanted to do so well."
Williams beat third-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2009 French Open winner, in the second semifinal 6-4. Kuznetsova took a 2-0 lead but struggled with her serve. Down 15-40 in the final game, the 24-year-old Russian double-faulted on her serve to hand Williams the match.
"You would like it to last a little bit longer because one set is very difficult to play," Kuznetsova said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
