With the current suspension of the ATP and WTA Tours, USOpen.org is reliving some of the biggest tennis matches in the tournament's history in photos. In our latest featured match, we look back at the 2010 US Open women's final between Kim Clijsters and Vera Zvonereva. Watch the full match on the US Open YouTube channel.
Kim Clijsters captured her second straight US Open title—and her third overall in New York—with a dominating performance over Vera Zvonereva in the 2010 women's final.
Clijsters, then 27, dropped just three games total to beat the just-turned 26-year-old Russian, 6-2, 6-1, in only 59 minutes.
With her win, the Belgian star became just the second player, along with Evonne Goolagong, to win two Grand Slam titles after becoming a mother. Here's a look back at photos from the final.
Seventh-seeded Zvonareva had never been past the fourth round in New York before reaching the final in 2010. She advanced to her only other major final that same year at Wimbledon, where she had last faced Clijsters and had defeated the Belgian in a three-set quarterfinal.
Heading into the 2010 final, Clijsters won titles at the Open in 2005 and 2009. She didn't play the tournament in 2006 due to an injury and sat out the event in 2007 and 2008 after taking time off to get married and have her first child, daughter Jada.
The Russian did not drop a set en route to the final, including a 6-4, 6-3 upset of No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals.
Clijsters' road to the final included wins over Petra Kvitova and Ana Ivanovic in the third and fourth rounds, No. 5 seed Sam Stosur in the quarterfinals and No. 3 Venus Williams in the semifinals.
Zvonareva made 24 unforced errors and hit only six winners in the final, compared to 15 unforced errors and 17 winners for Clijsters. "She didn't really give me chances to get into the match," Zvonareva said. "But I also think that physically today she was just much better."
With her win, Clijsters became the first back-to-back champion at the US Open since Venus Williams accomplished the feat in 2000 and 2001.
Clijsters had compiled a 21-match winning streak in New York with her win over Zvonareva and had improved her record to 27-1 in her previous four US Opens. Her last defeat had been in the 2003 final against fellow Belgian Justine Henin.
Clijsters, who celebrated on court with daughter Jada for the second straight year, was awarded a record $2.2 million for capturing the title—the winner's check of $1.7 million, plus another $500,000 for finishing second in the US Open Series standings.
"It's always an honor to go back to a place, especially a Grand Slam, where you've done well and you've won, and you want to bring your best tennis again," 2010 champion Clijsters told the media in a post-match press conference.
