NEW YORK: With the silver trophy tucked under one arm and cradling her daughter Jada in the other, Kim Clijsters provided a huge lift for working mothers around the world as she was crowned U.S. Open champion on Sunday.
Never before had a curly haired, blonde, 18-month-old toddler stolen the show on Arthur Ashe Stadium, but this was no ordinary day at Flushing Meadows.
It was a day when Belgian wildcard Clijsters beat Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 6-3 to become the first mother to win a Grand Slam title since Evonne Goolagong achieved the feat almost three decades ago — at Wimbledon in 1980.
“We tried to plan her naptime a little bit later so she could be here today. It’s the greatest feeling in the world — being a mother,” a glassy-eyed Clijsters told the cheering crowd after her heart-tugging comeback win at the hard court Major.
Wozniacki, who was trying to become the first Danish woman to win a Grand Slam singles title, said: “She’s such a great girl. Unfortunately, she beat me today. She played a great match and deserved this trophy.”
A journey that began with the Belgian taking baby steps back into top flight tennis only last month — following a two-year sabbatical — came a full circle in just 35 days as she claimed her second U.S. Open prize.
Great story“Amazing. For her to have this incredible run is fantastic. This is a great story for women’s tennis, that’s for sure,” said Federer, who, as the new father of twins, will try to prove that dads too can rule the world when he takes on Juan Martin del Potro in the men’s final on Monday.
World No. 1 Federer relied on a touch of magic to make sure he was still on target to set a modern era record of winning six successive Open titles.
The Swiss top seed, with his back turned to the net, conjured an eye-catching crosscourt winner from between his legs to bring up matchpoint as he beat Novak Djokovic 7-6(3), 7-5, 7-5.
Federer took the first set tiebreaker 7-3 by winning five of the last six points.
The second set was decided by a service break in the last game when the 28-year-old Swiss cashed in on his third setpoint with a forehand winner. Another forehand return winner ended the two-hour-34-minute match.
Biggest winEarlier, Del Potro pulled off the greatest win of his life when he pummelled Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 to reach his first Major final, but instantly knew he had turned dream wrecker by denying Flushing Meadows a Federer-Nadal final. “I’m sorry,” del Porto told the crowd.
The sixth-seeded Argentine — the first from his country to make a U.S. Open final since Guillermo Vilas in 1977 — kept Nadal pinned behind the baseline with a deep, flat forehand and a first serve at between speeds from the 90s to the 130s.
The day, however, belonged to Clijsters. Less than 24 hours after Tweeting “The fairytale goes on” following her semifinal win over Serena Williams, she penned a happy ending to her story.
Having been denied the chance to savour victory on Saturday — when the contest against Serena ended bizarrely as the American was docked a point at matchpoint down — Clijsters made sure no one would steal Sunday’s moment from her.
The contest was not a classic — with fortunes wildly fluctuating in a first set that featured seven breaks — but the tension was still palpable on a windy arena as almost 23,000 fans roared on Clijsters.
Harry Potter fan Wozniacki briefly cast her spell over Clijsters as she leapt to a 4-2 lead in the first set, but quickly ran out of tricks and surrendered the advantage with a double fault in the eighth game.
From then on, it seemed that the 26-year-old Clijsters could not be denied. At 5-3 in the second set, a driving forehand into the corner brought up matchpoint.
On the next point, Clijsters narrowed her eyes as she saw the furry yellow ball spin high into the air and raised her right arm to smash the ball on to the other side of the net.
Matchpoint over, Clijsters sank to her knees before leaning on to the cement — struggling to believe what she had pulled off. Job done and Jada was allowed to join her mother on the tennis courts.
No comments:
Post a Comment