Pierce surprises Clijsters in WTA Championships
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Mary Pierce surprised Kim Clijsters 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (2) at
the WTA Championships on Tuesday night in a wildly uneven rematch of their U.S.
Open final.
Clijsters beat Pierce in straight sets to win her first Grand Slam title in
September.
This time, Pierce held a match point in the second set in front of a sparse
crowd at Staples Center, but Clijsters reeled off three straight points to even
the match.
Clijsters was off her game from the start, committing 31 unforced errors and 11
double faults. Pierce was equally messy, making 21 errors, although she
converted five of seven break chances.
Clijsters broke to open the third set and owned a 3-1 lead before Pierce
rallied in her first appearance in the season-ending championships since 1999.
Pierce trailed love-40 on her serve before winning five straight points,
including a 109-mph ace, to close to 3-2. Clijsters double-faulted to fall into
a 4-all tie.
Pierce served a 40-love game to go up 5-4, then Clijsters won two straight
games for a 6-5 lead. Clijsters won one point on her serve before being broken
at 6-all.
Pierce dominated the tiebreaker, winning five of the last six points to close
out the match on Clijsters' backhand error.
At 30, Pierce is nearing the end of a dream season in which she reached two
Grand Slam finals and won two titles to return to the Top 5 for the first time
in five years.
Clijsters, ranked No. 2 in the world, is challenging Lindsay Davenport for the
year-end No. 1 ranking. They are separated by 155 points, and whoever has the
better showing this week will wind up on top.
Clijsters has won a Tour-leading nine titles this year. The loss snapped her
nine-match winning streak in the championships, which she won in 2002 and '03.
Maria Sharapova played Patty Schnyder and Davenport took on Nadia Petrova in
later round-robin matches Tuesday.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 202.175.33.190
FRA_hotties 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章