The No. 1 thing we wondered as Paris began was the 'No. 1 thing.' Would Kim Clijsters reach the semis, overtake Caroline Wozniacki at the top and give us a reprieve from that ludicrous, ubiquitous adjective? You know the one: Slam-less.
Clijsters did reach the semis, but it was Petra Kvitova who ended up winning the title. And she did it without much trouble: The 6-4, 6-3 final was exactly an hour in length. This makes Kvitova the first player to win two singles titles this season (she won Brisbane last month) and also ties her for most match wins this year (16) with Clijsters, whose 12-match winning streak ended today.
Still, when the rankings come out on Monday, Clijsters will show up at the top. It's the first time that will happen since March 2006. That gap of 256 weeks is the second-longest in history; Serena Williams has the longest at 265 weeks. Of greater significance is that under the current ranking system, Clijsters will become the first mother ranked No. 1.
Clijsters and Kvitova went into this match as perhaps the most in-form players this year. Clijsters easily won their two previous meetings, but Kvitova is a different player than she was then. (She’s at a career-high No. 18.) Looking ahead to today's match after her semifinal win, Kvitova said something we’ve heard many times before. We didn’t roll our eyes, because we suspected she spoke the truth: “Kim is the best player right now, and I have nothing to lose.”
Kvitova played like it. Clijsters wasn’t at her best, but that was a small part of the story. The bigger part was that Kvitova outplayed her with “absolutely ridiculous hitting.” By 2-2 in the second set, Kvitova had hit 21 winners, more than three times as many as Clijsters. Kvitova served better, too. By the time she got to 6-4, 5-3, she was at double digits in the ace count. She had served 10 aces, while Clijsters had served none. On the first match point Clijsters served her only ace. On the second match point Kvitova won it as she won so many other points—with a forehand winner.
After the match the announcer asked Kvitova, “Are you happy with this result? Is it logical?” Yes and no, she said. Logical or not, this win serves as more proof that Kvitova isn’t the tall, young, lefty flavor of the month. She played Serena Williams tough in the Wimbledon semis last year and went a step farther against Clijsters today. She’s here to stay, even if the braces aren’t. (She expects to get them off by April.) Whether she’ll regularly be in the mix with Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka, top players in her age group, remains to be seen. She doesn’t have their name recognition yet. (Or, for that matter, a website; she says she hasn’t thought about it.) What she does have, especially lately, are great results. Past performance may not be a guarantee of future success, but if she were a stock, she’d be a buy.
Clijsters’ results haven’t been shabby either, of course. She's reached the final of the last five events she entered and won three of them, including two biggies last September and last month. And then there is the No. 1 ranking, which may be passed around between Clijsters and Wozniacki over the next few weeks. During that time and beyond, it will be interesting to see what new women’s tennis narratives arise. The Slam-less No. 1 story probably isn’t going away, but neither is Clijsters. Not yet, not with London 2012 approaching. Oh, and remember Serena Williams?
We’ll find out soon enough. Because isn’t that why they play? To give us something to talk about?
—Bobby Chintapalli