INDIAN WELLS, California, 21 March 2005 — Belgium’s Kim Clijsters beat world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to win the Pacific Life Open on Saturday as she capped a remarkable comeback to the top level of the game following wrist surgery.
In the men’s draw, world No. 1 Roger Federer was to meet No. 2 Lleyton Hewitt in the final after contrasting victories in the semifinals.
Federer crushed 14th seed Guillermo Canas of Argentina 6-3, 6-1, winning his 25th match in 26 attempts this year, while Hewitt beat Andy Roddick in a tight contest 7-6, 6-7, 7-6.
Hewitt and Roddick slugged it out for two hours 33 minutes before Roddick fired a backhand pass just wide to end the match.
In only her second tournament after spending most of the past year recovering from an operation on her left wrist, 2003 champion Clijsters played confidently and aggressively to beat her American opponent in two hours and five minutes.
The unseeded 21-year-old Belgian matched No. 1 seed Davenport blow for blow from inside the baseline and accurately found the corners on the big points.
“It’s incredible,” said Clijsters after winning her second Pacific Life Open title. “It couldn’t be any better.”
Davenport came out firing in the first set, racing to a 4-0 lead before the Belgian began to find her consistency, showing her speed and tripping up Davenport in lengthy rallies.
Clijsters won seven successive games before Davenport held serve for 1-1 in the second set.
Davenport then used her powerful strokes to force the pace, breaking Clijsters to 2-1 when the Belgian missed a forehand. Davenport fought off three break points in the eighth game and won the set when her opponent dumped a backhand into the net.
In the third set Clijsters wore the 28-year-old Davenport down, breaking to 4-1 when she forced her into a forehand error and never looked back.
She broke Davenport again to win the match when the American committed another forehand error.
