Former world number one Kim Clijsters captured her second Indian Wells WTA title in three years on Saturday, capping a remarkable run in just her second tournament back from injury.
The 21-year-old Belgian continued her stranglehold on American Lindsay Davenport by beating the world number one 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the final.
It was the 22nd career singles title for Clijsters, who won her first crown in more than a year after missing most of 2004 with a wrist injury.
”This is incredible,” said the unseeded Clijsters, who pocketed $332 000 in prize money. ”There couldn’t be any better way to start my year off. It is very satisfying to have this now and so soon.”
Clijsters fired five aces and hammered 37 winners in the two hours and five minutes match in front of 7 000 at centre court. She made 30 unforced errors to Davenport’s 35.
This was the 15th career meeting between Clijsters and Davenport, with Clijsters now holding a 9-6 lead.
Saturday’s final was also a rematch of the 2003 championship, which was won by Clijsters 6-4, 7-5.
It was at Indian Wells last year where Clijsters suffered the wrist injury that led to surgery in June.
Her first comeback attempt in October was thwarted after just three matches and she was on the sidelines until February, when she reached the quarterfinals in Antwerp.
”This makes me more confident, especially because I was able to play five or six matches in a week’s time. My wrist is holding up and I was moving well out there,” Clijsters said.
Davenport looked unbeatable early on, but Clijsters cooled her off by winning six consecutive games to take the first set. But after a second-set stumble, Clijsters was able to bounce back in the third.
The turning point came in the sixth game of the third set when Clijsters broke Davenport’s serve to take a 4-2 lead. She then held serve and broke Davenport again in the final game.
After playing flawless tennis through the first four games of the first set, the match ended on two errors by Davenport.
World number one Davenport was serving at deuce in the final game when she double-faulted to get to match point. She then hit a shot into the net to hand the win to Clijsters.
Davenport broke Clijsters twice to start the match and extended her winning streak to 24 consecutive games.
But once the streak was over, Clijsters climbed back into it and used her strong serve and ability to run down every ball to wear Davenport down.
Top seed Davenport entered the match fresh off a stunning 6-0, 6-0 semifinal victory over Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova of Russia.
”It was crazy. I started off really well and continued where I was yesterday to take a good lead, but as quickly as I was pulling those games out I then started to lose them,” Davenport said.
”The tide turned from me being aggressor to her being the aggressor. I felt like I was behind the baseline and she was in front of the baseline, and that is not what I wanted to have happen.”
Because of her time off, Clijsters has seen her ranking drop from world number two to its current number 133. She is confident her ranking will improve dramatically over time.
”Rankings depend on results. I didn’t have results last year, so my ranking is not there. I will definitely go up a few spots,” Clijsters said. — Sapa-AFP