Clijsters Wins First Title in Belgium
Clijsters Wins First Title in Belgium
February 22, 2004
ANTWERP, Belgium - Kim Clijsters captured her second title in as
many weeks at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp.
The No.2 seed won her 21st career title and first in her native
Beligum with a 63 60 victory against Silvia Farina Elia in a match
that lasted 69 minutes. The victory was the sixth consecutive win
and second in two weeks Clijsters has achieved over Farina Elia.
She also defeated the Italian in three sets last week at Paris.
"It's extremely special for me to win my first title in Belgium,"
Clijsters said. "I still remember five years ago when I made my
WTA Tour debut five years ago in a smaller tournament here in Antwerp.
"It was a great feeling holding the diamond racquet. It's very
heavy but I think it's the most beautiful trophy you can win.
The crowd was amazing and it's very special to hear 15,000 people
cheering you on."
During the week in Antwerp, 118,300 attended the event - making
it the largest tournament attendence for an indoor event ever on
the WTA Tour.
Clijsters was a finalist in Antwerp last year, falling to Venus
Williams in the final. Her second appearance at the event turned
out more in Clijsters' favor. The World No.2 did not drop a set
in all four matches this week. She defeated lucky loser Arantxa
Parra, No.9 seed Magdalena Maleeva, lucky loser Myriam Casanova
and No.8 seed Farina Elia to capture the title.
Clijsters joins fellow Belgium and World No.1 Justine Henin-
Hardenne as the only players on Tour this year to capture back-
to-back titles. Henin-Hardenne won titles at Sydney and the
Australian Open, while Clijsters won last week's Open Gaz de
France in Paris.
Farina Elia, who has now surpassed $3 million in career earnings,
had come close to defeating Clijsters on several occasions, but
not on Sunday. Farina Elia had a point in the first set to make
it 4-4, but lost the point and didn't win another game. The first
eight games of the match lasted 42 minutes, while the remaining
seven games only took 27 minutes.
"Today was very difficult," Farina Elia said. "I felt very tired
mentally and physically after the game for 4-all. It's very tough
to win points against Kim in general as she makes very little
mistakes and is very strong with her strokes. I'm very happy with
reaching my first Tier II final and it's a day to remember even
though I lost."
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