Clijsters Captures Third Title at Stanford
July 31, 2005
Clijsters Captures Third Title at Stanford
STANFORD, Calif., USA - Former world No.1 Kim Clijsters took another giant
step in her return to the top of women's tennis on Sunday, as she captured her
fourth title of the season with a 75 62 championship victory over reigning
Wimbledon champion Venus Williams at the 2005 Bank of the West Classic. With
the win, Clijsters won a third Stanford title and avenged a 2002 final loss
to the American.
Both coming into Sunday's match as two-time former champions at the $585,000
Tier II event, the two players traded breaks of serve twice early on before
Williams gained a crucial advantage, breaking in the ninth game for a 5-4
lead and an opportunity to serve out the first set.
Just like she had done in her two most recent matches at the event, however,
Clijsters picked it up when the threat level was high, and went on a tear of
three straight games to give her the opening set 7-5. The first set was so
close that the 22-year-old Belgian won just six more points than her
25-year-old opponent.
"I had to step in and take the balls early and be aggressive on my second
serve," said Clijsters. "To win the first set was crucial against Venus."
Clijsters carried the winning momentum into the second set, cruising through
her four service games with the loss of just one point, breaking the Williams
serve twice and finishing with over twice as many points as the five-time
Grand Slam champion. She punctuated the victory on match point with a
screaming crosscourt forehand winner off a Williams second serve.
"I tried to keep the momentum going in the second set and not let her back
into the match like what happened to Patty [Schnyder] in the semifinals,"
said Clijsters, who defeated Williams for just the third time in nine career
meetings, and became the 12th woman in Tour history to surpass $10-million in
prize money with the win."I felt I played well against her. I’m just glad
I’m healthy and moving well."
"I just had a few lapses there and tried to challenge myself to move and hit
better, but I came up short," said Williams, a 2000 and 2002 champion at the
event who was playing her 500th career match on Sunday. "She played fantastic... I could have done more, but I hit a wall. Today was tough. I’m disappointed because I really felt that I could win."
Clijsters was in fine form the whole week, not dropping a set through her
four rounds. After a first round bye, the four-time Grand Slam finalist began her campaign with a 61 62 victory over former Top 10 player Ai Sugiyama in the second round, then defeated former Top 5 player Daniela Hantuchova 63 61 in the quarterfinals and surprise German semifinalist Anna-Lena Groenefeld 64 60 to reach the final.
She is now 38-5 on the season, a record highlighted by back-to-back Tier I
titles at Indian Wells and Miami in the spring, as well as her first grass
court title at Eastbourne in June. She has also won her last 24 matches in
the United States, a streak that dates back to her victory at the
Season-Ending Championships at Los Angeles in November, 2003.
"I just feel good here," said Clijsters on her American run. "When you go to
a lot of tournaments, you need a couple of days to get used to it, but here,
I don’t feel that way. The moment I step on court I feel good. I’ve been thinking ahead and looking forward to this trip and the US Open.
"I’m working hard to get another chance to get to another Grand Slam final
and hopefully win."
Clijsters made a triumphant return to the Tour earlier this year after being
sidelined for the better part of the 12 months prior due to a nagging left
wrist injury, which required surgery last June. She attempted a return at
Hasselt in October but was forced to retire from her semifinal match after
reaggravating the injury, sidelining her until her 2005 season debut at
Antwerp in February.
"Looking back, the injury was the best thing that could have happened to me,"
she said. "I had time to learn about myself. Now I have friends and a life
off the road. This victory means more to me than the other wins here because
of the injuries I’ve had in the past."
Williams began her week with a 63 62 victory over Indian sensation Sania
Mirza in the second round, followed by a 63 63 win over No.7 seed Jelena
Jankovic in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Williams overcame five match points and an inspired opponent
in a 26 76(4) 62 victory over No.3 seed Patty Schnyder. The world No.10 falls
to 32-9 for the season, a record highlighted by title runs at Istanbul in May
and at Wimbledon four weeks ago.
In Sunday's doubles final, Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Rennae Stubbs of
Australia captured their seventh career title as a team, ousting the Russian
duo of Elena Likhovtseva and Vera Zvonareva 63 75.
Black and Stubbs, who were the top seeds this week, won all six of their
previous titles together last year, including Wimbledon and Tier I events at
Tokyo [Pan Pacific Open], San Diego and Zurich. Likhovtseva and Zvonareva,
the No.2 seeds here, were playing their third career final together, winning
at the Tier I event in Berlin in May and finishing runner-up at Eastbourne to
Stubbs and Lisa Raymond. The two teams were playing against each other for the
first time.
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