NEW YORK — Serena Williams walked toward the line judge, screaming, cursing and shaking a ball in the official's direction, threatening to "shove it down" her throat.
On match point in the U.S. Open semifinals Saturday night, defending champion Williams was penalized a point for unsportsmanlike conduct — a bizarre, ugly finish that gave a 6-4, 7-5 upset victory to unseeded, unranked Kim Clijsters.
The match featured plenty of powerful groundstrokes and lengthy exchanges. No one will remember a single shot that was struck, though, because of the unusual, dramatic way it ended.
With Williams serving at 5-6, 15-30 in the second set, she faulted on her first serve. On the second serve, a line judge called a foot fault, making it a double-fault — a call rarely, if ever, seen at that stage of any match, let alone the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament.
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That made the score 15-40, putting Clijsters one point from victory.
Instead of stepping to the baseline to serve again, Williams went over and shouted and cursed at the line judge, pointing at her and thrusting the ball toward her.
"If I could, I would take this ... ball and shove it down your ... throat," Williams said.
She continued yelling at the line judge, and went back over, shaking her racket in the official's direction.
Asked in her postmatch news conference what she said to the line judge, Williams wouldn't say, replying, "What did I say? You didn't hear?
The line judge went over to the chair umpire, and tournament referee Brian Earley joined in the conversation. With the crowd booing — making part of the dialogue inaudible — Williams then went over and said to the line judge: "Sorry, but there are a lot of people who've said way worse." Then the line judge said something to the chair umpire, and Williams responded, "I didn't say I would kill you. Are you serious? I didn't say that." The line judge replied by shaking her head and saying, "Yes."
Williams already had been give a code violation warning when she broke her racket after losing the first set. So the chair umpire now awarded a penalty point to Clijsters, ending the match.
When the ruling was announced, Williams walked around the net to the other end of the court to shake hands with a stunned Clijsters, who did not appear to understand what had happened.
Lost in the theatrics was Clijsters' significant accomplishment: In only her third tournament back after 2 1/2 years in retirement, the 26-year-old Belgian became the first mother to reach a Grand Slam final since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won Wimbledon 1980.
Clijsters hadn't competed at the U.S. Open since winning the 2005 championship. Now she will play for her second career major title today against No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who beat Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-3, 6-3 in the other rain-delayed women's semifinal.
On the men's side, third-seeded Rafael Nadal took advantage of an embarrassing collapse by No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez to put away his quarterfinal, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-0.
"I can't tell you, because I don't have the answer," Gonzalez said when asked to explain his quick disintegration.
Next up for Nadal is a semifinal today against No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro. The other men's semifinal pits No. 4 Novak Djokovic against No. 1 Roger Federer, who is seeking his sixth straight U.S. Open title.
Though Nadal's sore abdominals are still a concern, he certainly wasn't overtaxed in this match, as he headed into what could be a very long weekend.
"I'm OK," Nadal said. "I have only a little bit of a problem in the abdominal. That's it."
A match that had been a taut, well-played affair got postponed Thursday night with Nadal leading 3-2 in the second-set tiebreaker. They had to wait out an entire day of rain before coming back to the court to resume under overcast skies and temperatures in the 60s.
Gonzalez opened the tiebreaker by spraying three forehands out, then pounded Nadal's serve into the net on set point. He lost two more points to start the third set before finally getting on the board. But after dropping the first game, the Chilean, back in the Open quarterfinals for the first time since 2002, chucked his racket toward his chair en route to the changeover.
And it kept getting worse for Gonzalez. Even a medical timeout to have tape cut off his ankles couldn't stop this slide.
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