The US Open got the women's final it wanted. Unfortunately, it arrived prematurely ... Friday's (10th September) semi-final between Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters was a classic - with the latter coming out on top 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Clijsters will meet Vera Zvonareva on Saturday for the title.
Prior to the US Open, Venus Williams had not played a match since Wimbledon due to a knee injury. Despite her inactivity, the third seed looked well on course to reach the final after a strong start against Kim Clijsters.
After winning the first set 6-4 while losing only five points on serve, the seven-times Grand Slam winner reached a second-set tiebreaker against the Belgian before she suddenly wobbled on serve to start a slide to defeat.
Back-to-back double faults handed second seed Clijsters a big edge in the tiebreak and Williams never recovered after losing all four points on her serve to drop the decider 7-2.
Clijsters broke to go ahead 5-4 in the third set with a perfect lob that curled over Williams and landed right at the baseline. She went on to take a famous victory, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Before this year's Wimbledon, Vera Zvonareva had been to only one major semi-final in her career - at the 2009 Australian Open. Now she's made two straight finals after her performance at Flushing Meadows.
The seventh-seed - who turned 26 on Tuesday - knocked top seed Caroline Wozniacki completely out of her rhythm - before knocking her out of the tournament.
Zvonereva had five aces, and she won 70 percent of points on her first serve and 13 of 17 points at the net. Wozniacki had an uncharacteristic 31 unforced errors, the wind again making for difficult play at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The Russian booked her place in the final - against either Venus Williams or Kim Clijsters - with a 6-4, 6-3 win. And she is still to drop a set in the whole tournament.
There was a great story in the offing ... but the America's Bryan brothers were not interested in making any headline writers' job easy when they took to the court at Flushing Meadows in the preceding men's doubles final.
With their 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) victory, Bob and Mike ensured the diplomatically delicious doubles team of India's Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi left empty-handed.
Ambassadors from India and Pakistan attended the match. AP
