Today's women's final was disputed before howling spectators, furious at the Williams family and determined to become active participants in the drama. Serena Williams, battling both the hostile crowd and a talented opponent, took the women's title at the Tennis Masters Series ? Indian Wells over rising star Kim Clijsters. The men's semifinals were on the disappointing side. But the winners were Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, so we are hopeful of an high-quality men's final to conclude the tournament
tomorrow.
Serena Williams (7) def. Kim Clijsters (14), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
Final
Previous head-to-head: Williams leads 2-0
Serena Williams had to battle an irate crowd that booed her repeatedly and cheered her unforced errors, as well as the talented 17-year-old Kim Clijsters today. But Williams prevailed to win the Indian Wells title with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 triumph.
The fans made their feelings known when Serena walked on court, as they showered Serena with boos that were mixed with a smattering of applause. But the biggest negative reception was for father Richard Williams and sister Venus, who made a theatrical entrance during the warmup.
The fans were of course expressing their displeasure with Venus's late injury withdrawal just minutes before the scheduled Venus-Serena semifinal two days ago, and the suspicion that the scenario was masterminded by Richard. The Williams patriarch had been openly accused of rigging Williams-Williams matches by player Elena Dementieva, as well as by an article that appeared in the National Enquirer tabloid this week. (See our March 15 report on this very complex question). Our On The Line photographer, s
tationed near the Williams family box, reported that fans sitting near Richard were heckling him with cries such as, "Go home Richard".
As the match started Serena appeared unnerved by the hooting and catcalling, and a sharp Clijsters jumped to a 3-0 lead. Serena blamed the slow start squarely on the crowd's reaction. "I don't think I was mentally ready for that at all." But she slowly began to find the range and pulled even at 3-3. Clijsters did not back off, however, and by the end of the set we were seeing the quality of tennis one would expect from both women.
The key to the first set was a break of Williams's serve at 4-5. Clijsters set up a double break point with one of her many forcing forehands. Kim then wrapped up the first set on a quality point: Williams approached behind a strong forehand, but Kim hit a running crosscourt forehand beyond the reach of her stretching opponent. The crowd rose to its feet and let out a mighty roar, as Clijsters took a 6-4 lead.
Clijsters started the second set still playing strong tennis. She often had Williams on the defensive with her down-the-line shots from both wings. But Williams was tightening her game, cutting down on her errors and doing damage with her serve and forehand. Meanwhile, the crowd had grown a bit calmer, moderating somewhat the vocal expression of its anti-Williams sentiments.
Games eight and nine were the turning points of the second set. Clijsters had a chance to break serve with Williams serving at 3-4, when Serena's 34th unforced error of the match set up a break point. But Serena made a strong serve and converted a forehand winner to force deuce, and served her way to level at 4-4. In the subsequent game Kim got into 0-40 trouble on a backhand return winner by Serena and two unforced errors. The Belgian got it back to 30-40, but then unwisely tried a drop shot against
the speedy American. Serena ran it down, and anticipated Kim's crosscourt reply, knocking a winner into the open court to gain the 5-4 lead. She then played a strong service game, pumping her fists emotionally with each point, to take the set 6-4 and force a deciding frame.
Strangely, Serena and Kim walked onto the same side of the court to start the third set. One of them had to be wrong! It was Williams, and she finally realized her mistake and walked back to where she was supposed to be stationed. But this was not a sign that Williams was completely mixed up, as she continued her strong play in the third set. Clijsters said she was getting tired at this point. "Serena had one less match," said the Belgian in reference to the fact that she did not have to play a semifin
al. "It was an advantage. She had a few more days off than me, and also easier matches than me (Serena did not drop a set until today)." But Clijsters also credited her opponent's superior play toward the end. "Through the third set she got more and more first serves in. Credit to her."
In the third set Williams held serve fairly easily throughout, while breaking Clijsters twice. The important first beak came at 1-1, as Williams put Clijsters in trouble with a blazing forehand return winner, and then profited from a pair of Clijsters errors. Williams then broke Clijsters again at 1-3: at 0-15 Williams intelligently lobbed to the Belgian's backhand side to force an error, and went on to break at love on more forehand errors from Kim. The rest was a formality: Serena closed out the matc
h in style, serving immaculately and playing controlled, confident tennis. Make the final: 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, and Serena's first title of 2001.
There was still considerable booing after Serena clinched the win, and she raised her arms to wave defiantly to the crowd. The booing picked up in intensity when Serena ambled to the family box to hug Richard and Venus.
Needless to say, the trophy presentation, handled by actress Holly Hunter and an executive from Newsweek magazine, was eagerly anticipated. Clijsters was strongly applauded, while Williams again received a fair amount of jeers. Serena began by thanking "Jehovah for giving me the strength to compete (she said after the match that she had prayed to Jehovah during a changeover in the second set). You guys were a little tough for me," Serena told the crowd in quite an understatement. She concluded by thank
ing the minority of fans who supported her ? "and if you didn't, I love you guys anyway."
The post-match questioning was focused on the crowd. Most of us expected some negative fallout from the controversy surrounding Venus's withdrawal on Thursday, but the virulence of the fans was surprising. Clijsters suggested the crowd was being unfair to her opponent. "It's not her fault. She's a very nice person. But in the second and third set it was more equal." Williams said, "At the beginning, I was a little shocked, but it never really annoyed me. It eventually got old. I was like, 'Wow, th
is is getting old. Move on to something new.'? I mean, how many people do you know who go out there and jeer a 19-year-old? Come on, I'm just a kid." That would make her old enough to have her considered an adult in most jurisdictions, but hey?.
The level of crowd virulence recalled the French Open howling directed at Martina Hingis after her misbehaviour in the 1999 final against Steffi Graf. The crowd behaviour was in my opinion boorish and exaggerated, but the message they were sending should not be lost. These are people who are here because they love sport and love tennis, and they feel, whether rightly or wrongly, that the Williams family's actions on Thursday treated them with contempt. They responded with the readiest weapon at their di
sposal, their voices.
As Andre Agassi later observed, Serena, and by extension the Williams clan, should perhaps use this expression of dismay as an opportunity to look at what they are doing and how they are presenting themselves. "If I were her," philosophized Agassi, "I would just consider it an opportunity to understand what people come to expect when we're out there playing the way we play, making the money we make, travelling the world. There's a level of expectation, and you've got to be responsible and accountable for
yourself."
On the court, where it really counts, Serena Williams was the best player here and a fitting champion. She is a powerful, swift player who is learning rapidly to harness her power intelligently. And Kim Clijsters, who knocked off Martina Hingis and acquitted herself well in her most important final to date, should be among the world's best for many years to come.
Men's semis
Pete Sampras (3) def. Yevgeny Kafelnikov (7), 7-5, 6-4
Previous head-to-head: Sampras leads 10-2
Andre Agassi (4) def. Lleyton Hewitt (6), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Previous head-to-head: Tied 1-1
Given the quality of the final four ? three multiple Grand Slam champions and a 20-year-old phenomenon ? we did not get the quality of tennis today that we had reason to expect. Sampras noted accurately about his win over Kafelnikov that "I don't think we both played all that well," while Agassi's judgement of his win over Hewitt was that "nobody had any feel of how to step it up and how to execute their game."
A Kafelnikov win over Sampras would have been big news, since he had been beaten by the American star six times in a row. The tall, blond Russian was poised to chalk up a rare win over Sampras, as he took 4-1 leads in each set today. He even served for the first set at 5-2. But Kafelnikov's nerve faltered each time he had a set in his sights. Sampras kept on the pressure, and came back in each set to book a spot in his first Indian Wells final since 1995.
It was clear in the early going that Sampras was not as razor-sharp as he had been yesterday in his high-quality win over Rafter. By the sixth game of the match, Sampras already had seven unforced errors, the same total he had during three sets against Pat Rafter yesterday. But better than anyone, Pete Sampras knows what to do when his opponent opens the door. Kafelnikov seemed to lose his resolve with the lead, and started committing errors and making tentative, attackable shots. Sampras turned on th
e pressure, chipping and charging on his second serve returns and smothering the Russian. The second set? Almost a carbon copy of the first
In the second semifinal, held just after the dramatics of the women's final, Hewitt looked like the more solid player much of the time. The 20-year-old Aussie was running like the wind, tracking down Agassi's hard baseline drives. Andre often overhit or misfired in his attempt to put the ball past the swift Hewitt (Agassi committed 46 unforced errors compared to 21 winners). But Hewitt's game failed him badly in the third set when he needed it most. Perhaps exhausted from his sprinting, he failed to e
xecute on the big points.
In the third set Agassi was the first to assert himself. He stepped up his baseline game at 2-2, when he escaped a break point with strong first serves, and then broke Hewitt at love to take a 4-2 lead. But serving at 5-3 for the match, Agassi virtually game the game away, as he was broken at love on two backhand errors, a mis-hit forehand that was well out, and a double fault. Hewitt appeared to have the momentum. Not so! Serving to stay in the match at 4-5 he collapsed, when at 30-30 he hit a foreh
and wide, and then dumped a forehand into the net on match point. Make the final: 6-4, 3-6 6-4, and a relieved Agassi booked his place alongside Agassi in the final.
Tennis fans need not be reminded of the epic character of the Agassi-Sampras rivalry, which pits the two best players of their generation and will be renewed in tomorrow's final. The relevant statistics favour Sampras, who leads the rivalry 17-12. On hard courts Sampras has a 9-7 edge, and leads 8-5 in the finals they have played against each other. Agassi won their most recent encounter, the epic 5-set semifinal at the Australian Open last year.
Agassi summed up the excitement both he and Sampras feel at the prospect of renewing the rivalry: "We could play in our back yard and I'd love it. But in a big final, it's a blessing."