Serena Williams of the US reacts to losing a point to Kim Clijsters of Belgium during their semifinal match of the 2009 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, in New York, September 12, 2009.
Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark celebrates her victory against Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium in their semi-final match at the U.S. Open tennis championship in New York, September 12, 2009.
Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium hits a return to Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark during their match at the U.S. Open tennis championship in New York, September 12, 2009.
Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki returns against Belgium player Yanina Wickmayer in their semifinal match of the 2009 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, in New York, September 12, 2009.
Ugly Ending Marks Clijsters Win Over Serena Williams in U.S. Open
NEW YORK — Serena Williams' U.S. Open title defense ended in bizarre, ugly fashion Saturday night, when she was penalized a point on match point after yelling and shaking her racket in the direction of an official who called a foot fault.
Williams lost to unseeded, unranked Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-5 in a taut semifinal that featured plenty of powerful groundstrokes by both women. No one will remember a single shot that was struck, though, because of the unusual, dramatic way it finished.
With Williams serving at 5-6, 15-30 in the second set, she faulted on her first serve. On the second serve, a line judge called a foot fault, making it a double-fault -- a call rarely, if ever, seen at that stage of any match, let alone the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament.
That made the score 15-40, putting Clijsters one point from victory.
Instead of stepping to the baseline to serve again, Williams went over and shouted and cursed at the line judge, pointing at her and shaking a ball at her.
The line judge went over to the chair umpire, and tournament referee Brian Earley joined in the conversation. Williams then went over and said to the line judge: "I didn't say I would kill you. Are you serious? Are you serious? I didn't say that."
Williams already had been give a code violation warning when she broke her racket after losing the first set. So the chair umpire now awarded a penalty point to Clijsters, ending the match.
"She was called for a foot fault, and a point later, she said something to a line umpire, and it was reported to the chair, and that resulted in a point penalty," Earley explained. "And it just happened that point penalty was match point. It was a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct."
When the ruling was announced, Williams walked around the net to the other end of the court to shake hands with a stunned Clijsters, who did not appear to understand what had happened.
"I used to have a real temper, and I've gotten a lot better," Williams said in her postmatch news conference. "So I know you don't believe me, but I used to be worse. Yes, yes, indeed."
Lost in the theatrics was Clijsters' significant accomplishment: In only her third tournament back after 2 1/2 years in retirement, the 26-year-old Belgian became the first mother to reach a Grand Slam final since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won Wimbledon 1980.
Clijsters hadn't competed at the U.S. Open since winning the 2005 championship. Now she will play for her second career major title Sunday against No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who beat Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-3, 6-3 in the other rain-delayed women's semifinal.
Clijsters through as Williams blows up
Kim Clijsters moved into the US Open women's singles final in controversial circumstances as Serena Williams picked up a point penalty.
Clijsters had been a set and 6-5 up when Williams was foot-faulted on a second serve to hand the Belgian wild card and 2005 champion match point.
Replays indicated the call had been a harsh one and it certainly incensed the American second seed, who quickly moved towards the linesperson, pointing, ball in hand while she unleashed a verbal tirade and then waved her racquet angrily at the woman, who was then beckoned by the chair umpire to explain what had been said.
Williams had picked up a first code violation for smashing her racquet at the end of the first set and this time tournament referee Brian Earley was called to the chair. After discussing the situation with the player, linesperson and chair umpire, Williams was handed a second code violation, the resultant point penalty handing victory to a bemused Clijsters, 6-4 7-5.
The Belgian, playing just her third tournament since coming out of a 27-month retirement during which time she became a mother for the first time, will now face ninth seeded teenager Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the final.
Clijsters deserves her place, having outplayed Williams, whose usually dominant serve deserted the American for much of the match.
Williams also saw her second serve exploited, her unforced error count hit 31 and had unable to build on her breaks of serve by allowing Clijsters to break back immediately at crucial moments.
Williams, the second seed, had gone into the match having won seven of their eight previous meetings, although the most recent encounter had been in 2003.
It was the American who had looked most tense as the match got under way, 85 minutes after its scheduled start time and more than 24 hours later than the intended match time due to heavy rain.
Despite the wait, Clijsters got off to a confident start, holding the first game comfortably, while Williams looked tentative receiving and did not seem to be moving as freely as in previous rounds.
The sixth game saw Clijsters go a break up at 4-2, Williams continuing to look out of sorts. Yet the setback seemed to awaken the champion and she was a different player in the seventh game, earning three break points off the Belgian's serve.
Clijsters saved all three, Williams looking to her box after two over-hit forehands before gaining and then taking her fourth break point.
Williams still had plenty on her mind, though, complaining to the chair umpire about conditions under foot along the lines as very light rain began to fall again.
Both players held serve in their next games, Clijsters winning hers to love and then took advantage of a still tight Williams to come back from 30-0 down, break serve and take the opening set.
Having netted a forehand, her 14th and final unforced error of the set, the champion demolished her racquet with a huge, frustrated smash into the ground that earned her the first code violation.
She channelled that aggression more constructively to break Clijsters' serve in the first game of the second set.
The Belgian wild card, though, stayed solid and consistent and gave herself two break points in the next game. Williams saved one but then double faulted to let Clijsters back into the set at 1-1.
Break point for Serena at 2-2, sliced drop shot and when Clijsters replied with a backhand, the American whipped a forehand winner across her rival's bows.
Williams was still not out of the woods, however, and Clijsters once again broke back having seen two break points saved before the second seed .
With her back against the wall, Williams saved two break points in the next game, getting the better of Clijsters in long rallies and then serving an ace out wide to save a third. She sent down another with her next serve but then on game point netted a backhand at the net.
A third ace gave Williams another game point and this time Clijsters found no response, the set moving to 4-4.
Clijsters sealed the next game with an ace leaving Williams to serve to stay in the match and the champion did just what was required, winning the game to love to level up at 5-5 with some wonderfully aggressive play up at the net.
Williams was in a similar position at 6-5 down and the serve was initially looking good again before Clijsters got back in the game and the fateful foot fault intervened
source : FOXNews.com, ESPNStart.com
credit photo: Gettyimages
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