Venus Williams defeats Kim Clijsters to win the Billie Jean King Cup
NYPost.com,
Tuesday, March 02, 2010 -
Venus Williams defeated Kim Clijsters 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 on Monday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City, to win the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup. The match, a part of the USTA’s
Tennis Night in America, featured four of the world’s top female players in a single-elimination, one-set-a-piece semi-final and final match-up. The Women’s Sports Foundation acted as the official charity of the event, in its second year of play at the Garden.
In the first pairing of the night, Clijsters, the 2009 U.S. Open Champion defeated Ana Ivanovic, 2008 French Open winner, 7-5. Down 5-4 in the first and only set, Clijsters rallied from 0-30 to hold serve and win the next two games. Ivanovic won the twelfth game 40-0 to force the thirteen-point tiebreaker, during which Clijsters bested Ivanovic 7-2.
Williams then faced Svetlana Kuznetsova, 2009 French Open winner, in the second match-up, winning 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.
In the final, Williams broke Clijsters in the first game and then held each of her serves to win the first set. Up 40-0 in the final game, Williams aced to take the set. In the second set, Williams again won the first two games but got sloppy, volleying one break point out of bounds 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 when Clijsters hit a volley into the net on break point to tie the set. The pair held their serve the rest of the way until Clijsters, down 15-40, hit the break point past the baseline to hand Williams the win.
After the match, Clijsters had nothing but praise for Williams.
"It's always tough," Clijsters said. "She's been in three different parts of the world in three weeks. It's amazing. It shows what type of person she is. She's disciplined, she's a pro.
"A lot of other players wouldn't even have come, or made it here.”
The match was originally scheduled to showcase Serena Williams, the 2009 Showdown winner, but she withdrew for the event, citing an ongoing leg injury. Her elder sister was happy to take the win and the $400,000 purse.