US Open 2010: Kim Clijsters storms to third New York title
Kim Clijsters topped off an “incredible year” by storming to her third US Open title after thrashing Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-1 in under an hour in New York.
The result takes the Belgian’s remarkable unbeaten run at Flushing meadows to 21 matches as she secured the third Grand Slam title of her career with a dominant display on Arthur Ashe.
Zvonareva, the seventh seed, offered little resistance to the 27-year-old’s power and was brutally cast aside in a manner which bared similarity to her loss to Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final earlier this year.
“Obviously when I started my summer, the US Open was my main goal,” said Clijsters, the current world No5.
“It was a new situation for me as well, going back to the Grand Slam where I was actually defending my title for the first time. Not having been able to do that in 2006 was frustrating at the time.
“It’s been an incredible year, being back in the Open and for the first time I’m able to defend my title,”
“Last year it was a different kind of attention. People were still curious to see how I was playing and people knew that with my history here that I was maybe one of the contenders.
“To me, I have to go match by match. Upsets can happen in the beginning of the tournament and I wasn’t playing my best tennis when I wanted to in the beginning. But I was able to lift my game in the last two matches when I needed it to.
“That’s probably what I’m most pleased with over these last 14 days, is that I was able to do that.”
Meanwhile, a devastated Zvonareve added: “Of course it was a great honour to be in the finals of the US Open and playing in front of the New York crowd but I think Kim just played a very good match. She didn’t really give me chances to get into the match.
“But I also think that physically today she was just much better than me. Physically I was not capable of playing the same level as I was able to play even like yesterday or in my previous matches.
“I think I have to learn how to make sure that I recover well and I’m physically fit and ready to play when it comes down to the last matches of the tournament, like semi-finals or finals.”
