The US Open Thread #2/Sports Thread #2 For 9/10/10: Kim Outlast Venus.........Again

It was an affair that was always hanging in the balance until match point was converted.

And the one who covered it was, again, the Belgian.

For the third time at the US Open, and 5th time in a row, Kim Clijsters has defeated Venus Williams 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in a typical sea-saw encounter that these two players can certainly play with each other.

For the elder Williams, this is a crushing defeat, especially considering how well she played in the first set. She conceded only three points on serve in that set, and even played decent defense in the long rallies against Clijsters.

But her level dropped at the start of the 2nd set, letting Clijsters back in the match. Both players went on to struggle the rest of the set, especially the Belgian on the backhand side and the American on the same wing as well.

Eventually, the middle set went to a tiebreak, and featured the first signs of the tension getting to Venus. After doing a fine job on her serve with one double fault up until the 12 game of the 2nd set, Williams started to have the double faults flare up at the wrong time.

Two in a row in the tiebreak gave Clijsters the comfortable lead to close it out 7-2 and even the match.

The final set seemed to be destined to be a carbon copy of last year's third set between these two, with Clijsters getting the key early break and never turning back. But her miserable 8th game of the set, which culminated in a wild swinging forehand volley, let Venus even the decider at 4-all and back to being in the best position to advance to her first Open final in 8 years.

However, Venus could come nowhere close to her first set domination on serve in the key moments, double flaunting to face break point, and then proceeding to see Clijsters hit a memorable lob over her.

Clijsters made sure to make no mistake on her chance to serve it out, closing it out when a backhand down the line at 15 to record her 20th straight win at this tournament.

#21 is not guaranteed however, for Vera Zvonareva has frustrated and defeated her the last two times they have played each other.

But the satisfaction of beating a player like Venus for yet another time in a nail bitter will certainly give her good vibes indeed.

Pre-match analysis:

The key to this match will be simple....can Venus be able to play enough defense against Clijsters aggression. Last year in that third set, Clijsters was able to hit through Venus enough, as one break was the difference in the entire match.

Flip flopping the whole day, but I think Clijsters takes this one again against her. But a quality match is what will definitely be required: