Belgian Kim Clijsters brought a swift end to Venus Williams's 15-match winning streak with a 6-2, 6-1 win in the Sony Ericsson Open final on Saturday.
The 14th seed needed only 58 minutes to defeat the third-seeded American, who played with bandaging on both legs and said afterwards she may have trained too hard during the tournament.
The match was reminiscent of last year's final at Key Biscayne when Williams's sister Serena, also looking short of fitness, surrendered in similar fashion to Belarussian Victoria Azarenka.
Williams said she had worn the bandaging on her legs as she felt her knees, a frequent source of trouble, needed extra support.
She also said may have overdone her practice routine during the tournament.
"I think sometimes you have to be careful with practice, not to practice too long. I may have made a mistake with that a little bit. I know better, but 'Eager V' kind of burst through," she said.
"Overall I'm really happy with the tournament. Unfortunately, today I didn't win the match, although I felt like this is a match I could win. Unfortunately I made it a little bit too easy. Next time around I'll play better."
Clijsters returned to tennis last year from a two-year break to give birth to daughter Jada, who watched from the stands.
The Belgian, winner of this event in 2005, never looked back from the moment she broke in the third game of the first set. She won 55 points to Williams' 29.
Playing with confidence, after beating compatriot Justine Henin in the semi-finals, Clijsters simply kept the pressure on an error-prone Williams.
"Of course she hit a lot of easy mistakes today, so it was just really trying for me to not lose my rhythm," said Clijsters.
"Whenever I had opportunities to step it up, I just really tried to do that. I was just really making sure that I was going for the lines and just kept her under pressure from there onwards."
© 2024 Rediff.com -