Clijsters rolls to Open title
NEW YORK — Getting to every ball, putting most shots right where she wanted them, Kim Clijsters was so dominant in the U.S. Open final that it would have taken a perfect performance to top her.
Vera Zvonareva did not produce one. Far from it.
Playing on the blue hard courts she's come to love, Clijsters won a second consecutive U.S. Open championship and third overall by easily beating a shaky Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 Saturday in a match that lasted 59 minutes and lacked any drama.
"It's always an honor to go back to a place, especially a Grand Slam, where you've done well and you've won, and you want to bring your best tennis again," Clijsters said. "I know if I bring my best, I'm capable of beating the best players."
That she did, including Venus Williams in the semifinals, although Zvonareva — also the runner-up at Wimbledon in July — hardly presented much of a challenge on this night.
Not since 1995 has a U.S. Open women's final lasted three sets, and this one wasn't about to end that trend. And not since 1976 was there a women's final where the loser won only three games.
Put simply, the second-seeded Clijsters was too dominant; the seventh-seeded Zvonareva too shaky.
"She didn't really give me chances to get into the match," Zvonareva said. "But I also think that physically today she was just much better."
Clijsters is the first woman since Williams in 2000-01 to win the title in Flushing Meadows two years in a row. And Clijsters' U.S. Open winning streak is actually up to 21 matches because she also won the 2005 title. She missed the tournament in 2006 because of injuries, including wrist surgery, and skipped it the next two years while taking time off to get married and have a baby.
Her 2Z\x-year-old daughter, Jada, spent the evening in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium, munching on a thick slice of watermelon, then savoring some candy.
