Tennis:Kim Clijsters crushed Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-1 to win her third US Open title in New York. The Belgian was in dominant mood as she added the 2010 crown to her triumphs in 2005 and 2009.
Having not played the event from 2006-2008, Clijsters has now won 21 matches in a row at Flushing Meadows. Only Chris Evert (31) has won more since the Open era began.
The disappointing final was the tournament's most one-sided since the professional era was ushered in back in 1969 - Zvonareva melting under the lights of the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Clijsters' experience of the big occasion in New York appeared to pay dividends as she made a fast start and never looked back.
The first four games were shared but from there the defending champion, who settled the better, took over. Zvonareva sent a backhand long in the sixth game to hand Clijsters the first break of serve.
Sadly for the Russian it was far from a rare unforced error. By the end of the match she had racked up 24 and hit only six winners.
The errors flowed from her racquet as Clijsters went on a mid-match, seven-game winning streak to all but clinch the trophy.
Zvonareva's frustration shone through during that run of games when she broke her racquet by slamming it into the court in the opening game of the second set.
The Russian, who had taken out top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals, managed to snap that seven-game run to give herself some hope and at 1-3 she could have gained some real momentum by winning the following game on Clijsters' serve, but it wasn't to be.
The best game of the match saw some great rallies and Zvonareva fashion her first break point of the contest. However, in true champion style, Clijsters saved it with what was to be her only ace of the match.
Two points later and the match was all but over for Zvonareva, who had finally found her best tennis but had been unable to make it pay.
Clijsters broke again to open a 5-1 lead and duly served out - saving a second break point as she served for the title before finishing the match off with a forehand winner.
The contest was over in exactly one hour and it left Zvonareva in tears as she sat back in the seat to reflect on what had just unfolded.
"Obviously when I started my summer, the US Open was my main goal," Clijsters said. "It was a new situation for me as well, going back to the Grand Slam where I was actually defending my title for the first time. Not having been able to do that in 2006 was frustrating at the time.
"Last year it was a different kind of attention. People were still curious to see how I was playing and people knew that with my history here that I was maybe one of the contenders.
"To me, I have to go match by match. Upsets can happen in the beginning of the tournament and I wasn't playing my best tennis when I wanted to in the beginning. But I was able to lift my game in the last two matches when I needed it to.
"That's probably what I'm most pleased with over these last 14 days, is that I was able to do that."
A devastated Zvonareva said: "I don't think I was overwhelmed. Of course it was a great honour to be in the finals of the US Open and playing in front of the New York crowd but I think Kim just played a very good match. She didn't really give me chances to get into the match.
"But I also think that physically today she was just much better than me. Physically I was not capable of playing the same level as I was able to play even like yesterday or in my previous matches.
"I think I have to learn how to make sure that I recover well and I'm physically fit and ready to play when it comes down to the last matches of the tournament, like semi-finals or finals."