The first wild card to ever reach the US Open final and Kim
Clijsters took away a win. Right now all of the news is spinning about Serena’s
outburst Saturday that led Clijsters to win the semifinal match. First,
Williams was given a code violation for racquet abuse (she broke her frame
against the ground when she lost the first set) and then –match point in the
second set– Williams was called for a foot fault. The American snapped and
began shouting loudly and vulgarly at the linesperson who made the call.
After all of the US Open officials came together –as well as
the linesperson– and talked about the situation, they gave Williams a second
code violation for the match – for unsportsmanlike conduct. Per tennis rules, a
player’s second code violation results in a point penalty. With Williams
serving at 15-40, 5-6, the point penalty gave Clijsters the set and the match.
This was Serena’s second foot fault in the match. Until that
point, the match had been long and hard played with Clijsters moving Williams
around the court and the American fighting back. In the sixth game, Clijsters
broke her opponent when Williams missed back-to-back backhands. In the second
game, the American’s back hand held her back again. During the second set,
Williams broke Clijsters in the first and fifth games but in the second and
sixth, the Belgian broke back.
As a new mom who hadn’t played enough tournaments to be
ranked yet, Clijsters wasn’t expecting to make it this far. “…It wasn’t in the
plan. I wanted to come back here, get a feel for it, play a Grand Slam so I
wouldn’t have to come back next year and learn the new experiences all over,”
the 2009 US Open champion told ESPN.com.
This win was the Belgian’s second US Open title, the other
in 2005. It was also the first time a mother has won a Grand Slam since
Wimbledon in 1980, the third this era.
Watch footage of the ugly moment and to read more on this
story: http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/match_reports/2009-09-13/200909131252819557531.html
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/usopen09/news/story?id=4471433
