Top seed Kim Clijsters claimed the Pacific
Life Open ladies title on Sunday after a straight-sets defeat of American
Lindsay Davenport.
The Belgian triumphed 6-4 7-5 to land her second title of the year
following an earlier success in Sydney.
For Davenport, though, it meant her attempt to land her third title in Indian
Wells ended in failure.
She had won the crown in 1997 and 2000.
After losing in the final of her previous two tournaments, Clijsters was
determined to get back into the winner's circle.
She out-slugged an error-prone Davenport in 81 minutes to claim the title.
"I definitely wanted this one," Clijsters said. "I don't think it has set
in yet but it's a pretty good feeling."
Davenport was seeking an unprecedented third title at Indian Wells but
committed 39 unforced errors, including 10 double faults, to lose to Clijsters
for the fourth time in their last five meetings.
"I just felt my serve wasn't as effective as it could have been," Davenport
said.
"Even if it went in, it wasn't really winning me any free points. This is
something I've struggled with a little bit more this year than in the past
years."
Though Davenport had a day to rest after beating second seed Jennifer Capriati
in the semi-finals on Friday night, she couldn't find much rhythm on the
purple-hued centre court due to the attacking style of her opponent, who blasted
37 winners - 17 more than the loser.
"There's no question she's the reason why I didn't play great," said
Davenport.
"She's definitely been the most improved player for a number of months now.
She's playing a lot smarter and a lot more confident than before where maybe she
would miss some balls or concentration.
"Once you break through and start winning titles it gives you more confidence
to keep doing that. Now she really seems to be focused on the entire match."
Though Davenport credited Clijsters with solid play, she also found fault with
the schedule made to accommodate television.
When Saturday's second semi-final was postponed due to rain, the match was
scheduled for 9am PST, followed by the women's and men's finals.
"It's one of our biggest tournaments," Davenport said. "It's just
ridiculous. I just don't think it was appropriate to schedule either final at
that time. I'm not on that side of the game but you'd think they would have
worked out a better solution than that."
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