Kim Clijsters defeated last-American-standing Serena Williams 6-4, 7-5 in a match that proved to be the most controversial of this year’s Open. It was a hard-fought semifinal up until the very last point, which took a turn for the worse and ended sadly, both for Williams and for the sport.

While there may be a storybook ending in store for Clijsters tomorrow in the final, this match was marred by a questionable call at the end, followed by a penalty to Williams that cost her the point that gave Clijsters the match. The crowd was stunned by the finish, at first boisterously backing Williams, then shocked to discover Serena had lost the match, then rightfully applauding victor Clijsters, and finally filing out of the stadium in disbelief at what they had witnessed.

It was a much-anticipated meeting between second-seeded Williams, widely regarded as the top player in the game today, and the Belgian Clijsters, who needed a wild card to enter the tournament due to not having played enough events this year. Clijsters had only recently returned to tennis after a two-year absence, during which time she got married and had a child. This was only her third tournament since un-retiring, and she had already defeated several highly-ranked players coming into today’s match, including Serena’s older sis Venus in the fourth round here.

Clijsters is only the second woman to advance to the semifinals of a Grand Slam event after having a baby (the first was Evonne Goolagong Cawly, who won Wimbledon in 1980). She also was the first wild card in the Open era to reach the final of the US Open. Such exploits captivated the crowds. That anticipation was further fueled by the rain that wiped out play on Friday and forced the women’s semis to move to Saturday, causing people to dwell and focus even more on the match, especially since it appeared to most that the winner of this match had a good chance of being crowned champion.

In truth, Clijsters was outplaying Williams, if by only a slight margin. It is remarkable that Clisters has come back to be able to compete and win at this level in such a short time. In her “first life” on the tour, Clisters was known as a relentless counter-puncher; a human backboard that would make her opponent hit a winner… only to find the ball come back. Most of her competition would miss before hitting the number of winners it required to take the point, making Clijsters very successful on the tour. However, there were a handful of big-hitters that could hit outright winners, and Clijsters only took one Grand Slam in her first life—the US Open in 2005.

Now in her “second life,” she seems to be moving as well as she ever did, and she also seems to be a bit more aggressive with her shots. She was the one forcing most of the play against Williams tonight as she pounded the American’s backhand. Williams had to go for bigger and bigger shots to compete, and in going for those ended up missing the court.

This led up to the debacle of the final game, with Williams serving at 5-6. The score was 15-30, when a linesperson called a foot fault on Williams’ second serve, costing her a point to go down 15-40. Such calls are rarely made, especially at such crucial times in a match. And, it wasn’t at all an obvious violation: Even slow motion replays could not say decisively whether it was indeed a foot fault.

Williams was perturbed by the call, her temper quickly escalated to rage as she went over to the linesperson and cursed at her. Such conduct is of course frowned upon in tennis, and a violation was assessed to Williams. When that was combined with an earlier warning (for throwing her racquet after dropping the first set), Williams was penalized a point, which gave Clijsters the game and thus the match.

Referee Brian Early said after the match that proper procedures were followed in assessing the penalty, and that it just happened to fall on match point. Williams, too, in her post-match press conference, seemed to accept the procedure that led to awarding match point to Clijsters, although whether the foot fault should have been called in the first place is still an open question. Williams went over to the Belgian’s side of the court after the decision and congratulated her on the win.

Clijsters has been as gracious here this year as she had always been in her first tennis life, and the New York crowd is thrilled to see her advance to the final. No one wants a match to end this way, but perhaps a storybook ending for Clijsters in the final can help make the closing scene on Sunday night a minor footnote to what has been a great tournament.

Clijsters will face another New York crowd favorite, Denmark’s Wozniacki, in the final on Sunday night, which was pushed back a day due to rain that wiped out play on Friday (the men’s semifinals will be played on Sunday, and the men’s final on Monday). Wozniacki took advantage of 40 unforced errors by Belgian Wickmayer to claim a 6-3, 6-3 win.


Queen for a Day, Wozniacki Heads to Final

By Todd Pechter

Along with possibly creating a fairy-tale ending of her own, Caroline Wozniacki has been a destroyer of dreams at this year’s US Open. First, she dashed the hopes of American sweetheart Melanie Oudin in the quarterfinals. Now she has put unseeded Yanina Wickmayer’s dreams of a title here to rest with a solid 6-3, 6-3 victory in the semis.

The 9th-seeded Wozniacki has one more match to win before she can complete the fairy-tale and hoist the trophy: She’ll have to do it against former champion Kim Clijsters, a task that many think would truly create a fable for the ages. But for those that have been following the sport closely, Wozniacki’s run to the final here is not such a tall tale.

Wozniacki has won three titles in 2009, and has posted an impressive overall won/lost record of 61-17. This is the farthest she has ever gone in a Grand Slam tournament, and it appears she has gained a great deal of poise since she lost here last year in the fourth round. That was evident in her previous defeat of Oudin, where she had more than 20,000 people rooting for her opponent. It was also apparent in this evening’s match, Wozniacki playing confidently in the glare of the spotlight and with a berth in the final at stake.

Wickmayer, on the other hand, seemed happy just to be here. She was somewhat fortunate to this point of the tournament in that her highest ranked opponent was 16th-seeded Virginie Razzano, who she defeated in the first round. Still, getting to the semis of a Grand Slam is no small feat, and it is probable that the Belgian Wickmayer would have had a ton of press and been feted as this year’s phenom were it not for the home-grown Oudin being placed on that pedestal.

Wozniacki has ably dispatched both of the young upstarts, and is now poised to be the Queen of Queens if she can win tomorrow night. While Clijsters has been extremely impressive here, give Wozniacki a fighting chance: Clijsters has not been back on the tour for that long, and may well be due for an off day. Of course, it’s more likely that Wozniacki’s dream dies tomorrow, but she’ll be in the mix at the upper end of women’s tennis for several years to come.