No wonder. Clijsters served notice from the start she was there to play, coming back from 30-0 to break Pierce in the first game of the match.

“When she came back to 30-all, I knew it was going to be tough. A very tough match,” Pierce said.

Clijsters used her superior athletic ability to chase down ball after ball, skidding into her trademark splits several times, and made Pierce work for any point she got. Pierce called for a trainer twice, but she moved just fine when she had to. In the first set, she sprinted from the baseline to reach a backhand drop volley from Clijsters, saving it with a backhand crosscourt scoop. But Clijsters answered right back with a backhand half-volley, and Pierce could only watch it go by.

Her bigger problem was her inability to get any of her shots working consistently against Clijsters. Her shots seemed to go a tad too long or fall just short. Other times, she stood like a statue on the court, watching Clijsters rocket balls past her and prompting one fan to shout, “Mary! Wake up!”

But Clijsters continued to befuddle her. When Pierce hit a backhand wide to give Clijsters the first set, she walked slowly to the chair and called for a trainer. That was only prolonging the inevitable.

Clijsters won 12 of the first 13 points of the second set to go up 3-0. Pierce held serve to make the score a little respectable, but her body language confirmed what everyone in the stands already knew. The match was all but over, and Clijsters was on her way to winning her first major title in grand fashion.

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“Kim, congratulations,” Pierce said, standing next to her opponent. “You were really too good today and you deserved to win.”

It was the second straight shellacking Pierce took in a Grand Slam final. Henin-Hardenne needed only 61 minutes to wallop her 6-1, 6-1 at the French Open, prompting a tearful Pierce to apologize to the fans of her home country.

She stretched this final a few minutes longer — but she needed a bathroom break after the first set to do it.

“Before this match, I felt really good,” Pierce said. “I was ready for it. I was looking forward to it. I wanted it. But today was definitely not my day.”

It was the 10th straight year the championship was won in straight sets, and was the most lopsided final since Martina Hingis beat Venus Williams 6-0, 6-4 in 1997.

The victory splits the Grand Slam titles between Belgians and the Williams family, with Serena winning in Australia and Venus at Wimbledon.

“I just think that I proved to myself that I can do it, that I’m up there with the best of them,” Clijsters said. “Everything that happened happened for a reason. Maybe that’s the reason I’m sitting here with this trophy.”

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