Kim Clijsters

Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic stunned Kim Clijsters , 6-4, 6-3, in the final of the Open Gaz de France at Paris on Sunday to win the third title of her career. Clijsters slammed an ace to save a match point, but Kvitova converted her second match point with a forehand winner. "I would like to dedicate this trophy to my grandfather, who passed away last week," Kvitova said. "I played for you. " Clijsters will still unseat Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark as the top-ranked player when the new rankings are released Monday.

On the verge of victory, Roger Federer stopped playing when he thought a pivotal point had ended at the Sony Ericsson Open on Saturday at Key Biscayne, Fla. He mistook a fan's shout for a linesman's call, which cost him the game. Play continued for another 25 minutes before Federer finally closed out his opening match by beating 19-year-old American Ryan Harrison , 6-2, 7-6 (3). "I'd like to make it a bit more difficult for my opponent," Federer said. "I was just completely confused about the whole situation.

Kim Clijsters, the queen of normal, was brightening the interview room Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament. She enters and the lights turn up, even if the switch had been flicked hours ago. There are tennis players who live in the vacuum that the pro tour provides, almost demands. And there are tennis players who walk right through the restrictive walls of celebrity, smell the flowers on the outside and still find a way to succeed. Clijsters is the latter. She is within a couple of well-hit backhands of being No. 1 in the world, again, for a fourth time.

The Australian Open begins Monday in Melbourne (Sunday in the U.S.) and the injury scorecard is already cluttered before the season's first major. Serena Williams has already hurt her ankle and Venus Williams didn't make the trip to Australia as she deals with an autoimmune disorder that she disclosed at the 2011 U.S. Open. Roger Federer has been spotted clutching at his achy back. Rafael Nadal has been seen using a bag with wheels to cart around his tennis gear instead of slinging one over a sore shoulder.

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) — Serena Williams cupped a hand to her mouth and hollered from her front-row seat, like any other fan hoping to see a better match. Or at least see Venus Williams win a point. Kim Clijsters claimed another trophy in her career comeback Saturday by beating the older Williams 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open. The match was even more lopsided than the score might suggest. Clijsters won 17 consecutive points in the second set, the equivalent of more than four games.

Were it not for Caroline Wozniacki, No. 1 player in the world, the women's tennis draw of the BNP Paribas Open would pretty much be a worthless piece of paper. Nor was Wozniacki a shoo-in, on a Tuesday when the Nos. 2-, 5- and 6-seeded players joined Nos. 3, 4 and 7 in the category of shocking early departures. Wozniacki, the Dane who would have lost her top ranking with a loss and a victory by No. 2 Kim Clijsters, emerged from the rubble with ranking in place and a reduced obstacle path to this prestigious women's title.

It wasn't the final point of Friday's semifinal match -- the joyous winning forehand from Kim Clijsters that couldn't be chased down by a dispirited and slow-footed Venus Williams -- that brought 23,000 people to their feet at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday. That winning shot was just about expected because second-seeded and defending champion Clijsters had gained such momentum from another shot, a luxurious lob that danced just beyond Williams' racket and skipped happily off the baseline as the 30-year-old Grand Slam veteran waved her racket helplessly.

The celebration was muted for Kim Clijsters, at first. Her opponent, Vera Zvonareva, provided little opposition in the U.S. Open women's final, unraveling bit by bit and never offering a moment of competitive tenseness. So the second-seeded Clijsters won her second straight Open title Saturday night, 6-2, 6-1, in 59 minutes over the seventh-seeded Zvonareva in an anticlimactic prime time final. After Clijsters had hugged Zvonareva and told her beaten opponent that it takes some time to feel comfortable in these big matches, it was left for Clijsters' 30-month-old daughter, Jada, to bring the joy to the court after the match, the shortest Open final since time of match began being officially recorded in 1980.

Justine Henin reached the semifinals of the Unicef Open at Den Bosch, Netherlands, without dropping a set in the Wimbledon warmup tournament. Henin defeated Kristina Barrois 7-5, 6-3 to set up a match with fifth-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru , who beat Yaroslava Shvedova , 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. --- Kim Clijsters lost 7-6 (6), 6-4 to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne grass-court tournament at Eastbourne, England. Clijsters dropped just three games in her opening two matches but the Belgian player struggled against Azarenka, who reeled off four games in a row to close out the match.

Serena Williams is conflicted. If she watches her sister Venus on television, her stomach does flip-flops and she has to keep walking away. If Serena comes to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and sits in the player box at Arthur Ashe Stadium, her stomach settles down but her own longing to be playing causes her heart to flutter. What Serena isn't conflicted about is her pride. Her 30-year-old sister has made it to the U.S. Open semifinals without the loss of a set and after practically everyone had written Venus off. After all, the last time Venus won a major not named Wimbledon was here in 2001.

When a "premier" level tennis tournament director is pitching world No. 25 Sabine Lisicki and installing a fashion show to keep fans entertained, it's a pretty good sign that the event has seen brighter days. Such is the case at the Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad, where six top players have already withdrawn from a tournament that is trying to regain its reputation as one of the best. Thankfully for tournament organizers, the title and presenting sponsors seem sympathetic to the situation.

Were it not for Caroline Wozniacki, No. 1 player in the world, the women's tennis draw of the BNP Paribas Open would pretty much be a worthless piece of paper. Nor was Wozniacki a shoo-in, on a Tuesday when the Nos. 2-, 5- and 6-seeded players joined Nos. 3, 4 and 7 in the category of shocking early departures. Wozniacki, the Dane who would have lost her top ranking with a loss and a victory by No. 2 Kim Clijsters, emerged from the rubble with ranking in place and a reduced obstacle path to this prestigious women's title.

Sunday was a tennis day of wine and roses in the desert. Little of great news value happened in the BNP Paribas Open, yet the time spent was delightfully palatable. It was a buffet of sights and sounds and smells. The main stadium, which holds 16,100 and where lots of obvious stuff was happening ? Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters and Roger Federer winning early-round matches at Indian Wells ? seemed to be matched in activity by the world outside its walls. With the temperature in the mid-80s, just short of uncomfortably sweltering, it was a time to walk the grounds, find a tree and take a nap. There were moms and dads and blankets and kids in Crocs everywhere.

Kim Clijsters, the queen of normal, was brightening the interview room Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament. She enters and the lights turn up, even if the switch had been flicked hours ago. There are tennis players who live in the vacuum that the pro tour provides, almost demands. And there are tennis players who walk right through the restrictive walls of celebrity, smell the flowers on the outside and still find a way to succeed. Clijsters is the latter. She is within a couple of well-hit backhands of being No. 1 in the world, again, for a fourth time.

The desert tennis tournament that began 36 years ago as a nice little mom-and-pop, sit-on-the-lawn-and-watch event will put its international stature on display for the next two weeks. The BNP Paribas Open, annually the fifth-best attended tennis event in the world ? after the four Grand Slams ? will begin Monday with qualifying play and end March 20 with men's and women's singles finals that annually feature some of the top players in the world. The women's qualifying will be Monday and Tuesday, with admission free to the public.

Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic stunned Kim Clijsters , 6-4, 6-3, in the final of the Open Gaz de France at Paris on Sunday to win the third title of her career. Clijsters slammed an ace to save a match point, but Kvitova converted her second match point with a forehand winner. "I would like to dedicate this trophy to my grandfather, who passed away last week," Kvitova said. "I played for you. " Clijsters will still unseat Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark as the top-ranked player when the new rankings are released Monday.

Defending champion Andy Murray defeated top-ranked Rafael Nadal , 6-3, 6-4, for the first time in two years in the Rogers Cup semifinals on Saturday at Toronto. Murray will play the winner of the Roger Federer-Novak Djokovic semifinal match in Sunday's final. Murray used his strong baseline game to knock off the top-seeded Spaniard. He kept the pressure on Nadal and kept the unforced errors to a minimum. "You never expect to beat the best players in the world," Murray said.

Last time Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams played tennis against each other, Clijsters won, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, in the 2005 U.S. Open women's final, still Clijsters' only major championship. The third-seeded Williams and Clijsters will play again Sunday in the fourth round, a meeting set up Friday when Williams beat 46th-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, 6-2, 7-5. Williams was down a service break in the second set and limped during the last couple of games. Clijsters, back only a month after a two-year retirement, routed fellow Belgian Kirsten Flipkens, 6-0, 6-2. The day's most compelling match, though, was 28-year-old Taylor Dent's 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (1)

The celebration was muted for Kim Clijsters, at first. Her opponent, Vera Zvonareva, provided little opposition in the U.S. Open women's final, unraveling bit by bit and never offering a moment of competitive tenseness. So the second-seeded Clijsters won her second straight Open title Saturday night, 6-2, 6-1, in 59 minutes over the seventh-seeded Zvonareva in an anticlimactic prime time final. After Clijsters had hugged Zvonareva and told her beaten opponent that it takes some time to feel comfortable in these big matches, it was left for Clijsters' 30-month-old daughter, Jada, to bring the joy to the court after the match, the shortest Open final since time of match began being officially recorded in 1980.