New York:
Kim Clijsters of Belgium won her second consecutive US Open championship and third overall on Saturday, by easily beating Vera Zvonareva of Russia 6-2, 6-1 in the final.
The second-seeded Clijsters played far steadier than the seventh-seeded Zvonareva, who was warned by the chair umpire when she cracked her racket on the court after missing one shot. Clijsters made only 15 unforced errors, nine fewer than Zvonareva.
Clijsters is the first woman since Venus Williams in 2000-01 to win the title in Flushing Meadows two years in a row.
Clijsters has a 21-match winning streak at the US Open, which she also won in 2005. She missed the tournament in 2006 because of injuries, and skipped it the next two years while taking time off to get married and have a baby.