Defending champion Kim Clijsters reached the final again at the U.S. Open by defeating the No. 3 seed and 2-time U.S. Open champion, Venus Williams 4-6, 7-6(7-2), 6-4.
Kim won her 20th straight U.S. Open match in the 2-hour, 23-minute semifinal match at the National Tennis Cernter in New York. She knocked off Venus last year in the fourth round of the U.S. Open and then beat her sister in the semifinals when Serena Williams was given a point penalty to end the match after berating an official over a foot-fault call.
The win today tied Kim with Venus Williams, Monica Seles and Martina Navratilova for the second-longest winning streak at the season’s final Grand Slam since the Open era of professional tennis began in 1968. Chris Evert won 31 straight matches from 1975-79.
Venus, who won the U.S. Open in 2000 and 2001, surrendered just five points on her serve and converted the only break point in the first set.
Kim broke Venus’ serve twice in the second set and was serving for the set, up 5-3, before having her serve broken for a second time. Venus failed to win a point on her serve in the tiebreaker, twice double-faulting before missing an overhead shot and hitting another shot into the net.
Kim broke Venus’ serve to take a 2-1 final-set lead. Serving with the 4-3 advantage, Kim double-faulted twice and then missed an open-court forehand long to even the match.
She then reclaimed the advantage at 5-4, breaking Venus’ serve with a topspin lob that narrowly landed inside the baseline. The match-winning shot was a backhand winner.
Kim will now face Vera Zvonareva in the final.
