Sep 12 2009
Serena Tirade Spells Elimination
Kim Clijsters will face Caroline Wozniacki in Sunday’s U.S. Open final after each won rain-delayed semifinals tonight. Wozniacki defeated a fellow 19-year-old who was in her first Grand Slam semifinal, Yanina Wickmayer, 6-3, 6-3. Clijsters, who received a wild card from the U.S. Tennis Federation, beat Serena Williams, 6-4, 7-5. Clijsters is a former number-one player coming off a 2.5-year layoff during which time she married and gave birth to a child.
Rafael Nadal needed barely 30 minutes at midday Saturday to finish his quarterfinal against Fernando Gonzalez. Nadal won in shockingly easy fashion, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-0. Saturday’s biggest story though was Williams’s losing her last two points without putting the ball in play. When serving at 15-30 in the 12th game of the second set, Williams was called for a foot fault on her second serve attempt. The call meant a double fault, changing the score to 15-40.
Williams used obscenities while berating the lineswoman who called the foot fault. Williams received a code violation, her second of the night. Her first came when she spiked her racket to the ground after dropping the first set. By rule, two code violations call for the opponent to win a point. That meant Clijsters claimed match point and the final berth.
Tiger Woods roared to a third-round 62–tying the course record–today to take the PGA Tour playoff event in Boston by storm. Woods leads Brandt Snedeker and Marc Leishman by seven strokes entering the final round. Peter Hanson leads the European Tour event in Germany. Song-Hee Kim leads the Northwest Arkansas Championship with one round to play.
Denny Hamlin won tonight’s NASCAR Cup race in Richmond. He’ll be among the 12 drivers competing in the Chase for the Championship starting next week in New Hampshire. The others are Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Brian Vickers, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya and Greg Biffle. Mike Skinner won the Truck Series race in St. Louis.
