HONG KONG, Jan 7: US Open champion Kim Clijsters downed world number one Lindsay Davenport in straight sets to win the Champions Challenge final on Saturday and boost her Australian Open campaign.
The world number two said she was pleased with her 6-3, 7-5 win but needed to improve her performance before the season’s first Grand Slam starting on January 16.
Clijsters, tipped for victory in the Australian Open after winning the US and nine WTA titles last year, overcame a nervous start Saturday to win the exhibition tournament featuring four of the top 10 women players.
The 22-year-old Belgian said she found it tough to pull away from the American as both players made plenty of errors and struggled to hold serve.
Clijsters fought back from 3-1 down in the first set to break twice for 5-3 before serving out the set. There were seven breaks of serve in the second set before Davenport broke for 5-3 when Clijsters found the net after a lengthy rally. But the Belgian recovered to break twice and won with an overhead smash on her own serve after 75 minutes.
It was a surprise defeat for Davenport, year-end world number one for the fourth time in her career, who looked in excellent form in this tournament.
The 29-year-old had won their last two meetings — tough three-setters in the fourth rounds of the French Open and Wimbledon last year. But Clijsters leads their head-to-head meetings 10-8.
Davenport, who is hoping to add to her three Grand Slam titles in Melbourne, easily downed rising Czech star Nicole Vaidisova here before blitzing Venus Williams who struggled with a hip injury that needed treatment during her earlier match.
Injury clouds hang over the Williams sisters with Serena withdrawing from the second match of this tournament with an inflamed left knee, raising questions about her defence of her Australian Open crown.
The seven-time Grand Slam winner was plagued with injury for most of last year and was surprisingly beaten in her opener here against world number eight Dementieva.
The younger Williams sister, who has had a series of left knee and ankle problems over the past two years, has not won a match since the US Open third round on September 2.
Venus Williams meanwhile said her sore hip had restricted her movement during her two performances. The Wimbledon champion said she expected to recover in time for Melbourne but declined to comment on Serena’s condition.
Injury woes continued with Zheng forced to withdraw Saturday mid-way through the tournament’s second tier final, also leaving her in doubt for the Australian Open. Zheng fell playing Vaidisova, further injuring her left knee.
In other matches, Vaidisova and Dementieva downed Clijsters and Indian sensation Sania Mirza in the one-set doubles final.
Bartoli wins first TITLE
AUCKLAND: Marion Bartoli won her first WTA title on Saturday with a comfortable straight-sets 6-2, 6-2 win over Russian Vera Zvonareva in the final of the Auckland Classic women’s tournament.
At the start of the tournament, Bartoli did not rate her chances at all, given the strong Russian line-up including world No. 9 Nadia Petrova, defending Auckland champion Katarina Srebotnik and Zvonareva, a former top-10 player. It was also Bartoli’s first success against Zvonareva in four clashes.
The sixth seed was erratic in her opening service game, but once she found her rhythm she proved too consistent for the eighth-seeded Zvonareva, dominating until the final stages when the strong scent of victory brought on an attack of nerves.
With Zvonareva serving in the seemingly hopeless situation of 2-6, 1-5 and 0-40 the match was Bartoli’s for the taking before she began to drop points, allowing the Russian to hold serve.
As the Frenchwoman then began to struggle with her own serve she started to fear the worst.
Until the final, Zvonareva had looked unstoppable, dropping only one set to Yoon Jeong Cho in the second round, while Bartoli lost the first set in three of her four matches and was gifted entry to the final when Petrova pulled out of their semifinal with a thigh injury.
However, the news was better for Zvonareva when she teamed with Elena Likhovtseva soon afterwards to beat France’s Emilie Loit and the Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova 6-3, 6-4 in the doubles final.
Safarova GRABS title
GOLD COAST (Australia): Rising Czech star Lucie Safarova capped a big week with victory in the final of the Australian women’s hardcourt tennis tournament on Saturday.
The 18-year-old left-hander claimed her third WTA Tour title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Italian fourth seed Flavia Pennetta in one hour 22 minutes.
As a result the unseeded Safarova climbed 12 rungs on the rankings to No.35 while Pennetta advanced three places to No.20 after reaching the final.
Safarova ousted three seeds en route to her fourth WTA Tour final — two-time Gold Coast winner Ai Sugiyama, defending champion and world No.7 Patty Schnyder and No.3 Russian seed Dinara Safina.
She will now seek further match preparation for this month’s Australian Open by playing in the Canberra International, which starts on Sunday.
Pennetta, 23, Friday ended the comeback tournament of former world No.1 Martina Hingis in the semifinals.
But the final proved a big let-down for Pennetta, who looked jaded after playing singles and doubles on Friday, dropping the first set in 33 minutes as her serve was broken three times.
Pennetta, a three-time winner on the WTA Tour, fought back in the second set but her serve was broken in the fifth game for Safarova to collect the US$28,000 winner’s cheque.—Agencies
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