Williams reeled off 10 straight games to claim the title

(1) Venus Williams (USA) bt (2) Lindsay Davenport (USA) 7-5 6-0
Venus Williams ended her build-up to the US Open with a confidence-boosting win over Lindsay Davenport at the Pilot Pen Championships. Williams triumphed 7-5 6-0 to lift her fourth consecutive title in New Haven. The defending US Open champion has beaten Davenport three times in the past four years for the Pilot Pen title. Williams seemed sluggish at times in the first set, dropping her serve in the first game, levelling at 2-2 but losing her serve again to go 3-2 behind.

Davenport continued to pressure Williams by frequently coming to the net and running her around the baseline, and served for the set at 5-4. But Davenport was broken to 15 when she sent a forehand long, and Williams broke again to clinch the set with a crosscourt forehand winner. Williams dominated the second set as her powerful baseline game often forced Davenport into errors. Despite such an ultimately easy victory, Williams was full of praise for her opponent. "She's definitely had some great results coming back from her injury," she said. "I don't think she expected this, so for her to be in these finals is really unbelievable. At this point she's just about at her highest level, I think."

Davenport admitted she didn't maintain the same intensity she had at the start as Williams pulled herself into the match. "She cleaned up her game a little bit and didn't make so many unforced errors, and my level dropped off a little bit as well," said Davenport. "But I'm happy with the way I played the first set and my tactics. I had my chances to win the first set and I didn't. "I wish I could go back and serve out the 5-4 game again. That's the kind of game where when it gets close I should step up a level and play better, and today I did not do that at all. "She is able to play better at the bigger moments, and that's what the biggest aspect of tennis is. If you play well at the right time you're going to come out ahead."

Davenport injured her knee in November and didn't return to competition until late July. Since then she has reached two finals and two semi-finals, far exceeding her expectations. "I was definitely not expecting this at all - I was not sure how the whole comeback would pan out," said Davenport. "I was expecting to take some losses that otherwise I might not have gone through."