Kim Clijsters captured her third U.S. Open singles title Saturday night, defeating Russia’s Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 in Saturday night’s prime-time final in New York.
The match took only 59 minutes officially to play, disappointing fans who paid $100 per ticket for upper bowl nose-bleed seats. The Clijsters-Zvonareva match was the only match scheduled for the Saturday night session by the U.S. Tennis Association.
The final marked the 15th straight year the women’s final at the US Open was a straight-set match. The last time the final was extended to three sets was in 1995 when Steffi Graf defeated Monica Seles 7-6 (6), 0-6, 6-3.
Clijsters had no trouble with Zvonareva, the 2010 Wimbledon finalist, connecting on numerous passing shots from the baseline and showing the poise of a future member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
With her infant daughter Jada watching from the stands, Clijsters raced to the win losing only three games, making it the most one-sided final in New York since Chris Evert defeated Evonne Goolagong 6-3, 6-0 in 1976.
Clijsters, the US Open champion in 2005 and again last year when she returned to the game after taking time off to start a family, became the first woman to successfully defend her U.S. Open crown since Venus Williams in 2001.
The 59-minute final was not the fastest final in U.S. Open history. According to THE BUD COLLINS HISTORY OF TENNIS, the 1916 final between Molla Bjurstedt of Norway and Louise Hammond Raymond of the United States lasted only 22 minutes – Bjurstedt winning 6-0, 6-1 – but there were no sit-downs on changeovers in those days as play was continuous.