Serena Williams’ US Open title defense ends with bizarre loss to Kim Clijsters

Bizarre ending to Williams’ title defense at Open

NEW YORK — Serena Williams’ U.S. Open title defense ended in bizarre, ugly fashion Saturday night, when she was penalized a point on match point after yelling and shaking her racket in the direction of an official who called a foot fault.

Williams lost to unseeded, unranked Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-5 in a taut semifinal.

With Williams serving at 5-6, 15-30 in the second set, she faulted on her first serve. On the second serve, a line judge called a foot fault, making it a double-fault. That made the score 15-40, putting Clijsters one point from victory.

Williams went over and shouted at the line judge, who walked over and reported it to the chair umpire. That led to the chair umpire awarding a penalty point to Clijsters, ending the match.

Williams already had been given a code violation warning when she broke her racket after losing the first set.

“She was called for a foot fault, and a point later, she said something to a line umpire, and it was reported to the chair, and that resulted in a point penalty,” tournament referee Brian Earley explained. “And it just happened that point penalty was match point. It was a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.”

In the final, 2005 champion Clijsters will play No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki, who beat Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 6-3.