Sport World sport
Kim Clijsters won her second consecutive U.S. Open championship and third overall Saturday, easily beating Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 in a final that lasted 59 minutes and lacked any drama.
Clijsters is the first woman since Venus Williams in 2000-01 to win the title in Flushing Meadows two years in a row. And the
Belgian's US 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.
"I'm glad to be standing here as the winner now. New York is an amazing place for me," said the 27-year-old Clijsters. "The U.S. Open brings nothing but happiness to my tennis life."
"It's been an incredible year being back. This is the first time I've been able to defend my title here at the U.S. Open," Clijsters said.
On Saturday, in addition to another silver cup, Clijsters was awarded $2.2 million - the champion's check of $1.7 million, plus another $500,000 for finishing second in the U.S. Open Series standings that take into account hard-court warm up tournaments.
