The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Women tennis stars to play match inside Kings Island fountains

Belgium's Kim Clijsters celebrates as she beats Russia's Olga Poutchkova 6-0, 6-2, during the second round at the Diamond games in Antwerp, Belgium, in February 2007.

AP file photo Belgium's Kim Clijsters celebrates as she beats Russia's Olga Poutchkova 6-0, 6-2, during the second round at the Diamond games in Antwerp, Belgium, in February 2007.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Elena Dementieva, of Russia, serves to Venus Williams during the semifinals of the Bank of the West tennis tournament in Stanford, Calif., Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009.

(AP Photo/Tony Avelar) Elena Dementieva, of Russia, serves to Venus Williams during the semifinals of the Bank of the West tennis tournament in Stanford, Calif., Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Butler County Fair Results, Sunday, Aug. 1
New 2 min. ago
Medical helicopter on scene of College Corner Pike accident
Updated 20 min. ago
Local band to play some classics at music festival
11:17 a.m.
Children invited to learn from Miami football coach
10:39 a.m.
Community briefs
10:38 a.m.
> More headlines

E-mail this page

Staff report 4:04 PM Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Two of the world’s best women tennis players will play a match Saturday, Aug. 8, in the large water fountains at King Island.

Former world number one ranked Kim Clijsters – who is making her return at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women’s Open in Mason – will take on number four ranked Elena Dementieva.

The “match” between Clijsters and Dementieva is included free with park admission and season pass. The players will be both playing in the Mason tournament next week.

Kings Island spokesman Don Helbig said the fountains will shoot up thousands of gallons of water as the two athletes play for 20 to 25 minutes.

“The specially made court will be placed on top of one of the middle fountains which will be turned off so the court can go on top of it,” Helbig said. “But the water will be spraying up from the sides around it and behind it down the middle as you go from the front of the fountains to the tower.”

Clijsters retired in 2007 after winning the 2005 U.S. Open title and reaching four Grand Slam singles finals – two French Opens (2001 & 2003), the U.S. Open (2003) and the AU.S.tralian Open (2004). She also won 34 singles titles (including five Tier I events, now known as the Premier level) and 11 doubles titles on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

Clijsters spent 19 weeks at number one and won more than $14 million in prize money. She was the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s Newcomer of the Year in 1999, and Player of the Year in 2005.

Dementieva has won two Olympic Gold medals in singles, including the Gold Medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She has reached the finals of two Grand Slam events and was ranked as high as No. 3 in the world as recently as April 2009.

The playing field for the 2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women’s Open Aug. 8 to Aug. 23 is the strongest in the 111-year history of the event, 30 of which have been in Mason. Only 44 men and 45 women are given direct acceptance into the singles draw, and the last man on the preliminary list is ranked No. 44 while the last woman is ranked No. 49.

The women kick off play first, and 18 of the top 20 are in the field, led by world No. 1 Dinara Safina as well as Serena Williams, the current holder of three of the four Grand Slam titles. VenU.S. Williams, this year’s Wimbledon finalist, joins her sister and Clijsters and Dementieva in Cincinnati, as does reigning French Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The men’s tournament is equally stacked, with French Open and Wimbledon champion and newly re-seated world No. 1 Roger Federer looking to add a third Cincinnati title. No. 2 Rafael Nadal is expected to return to the place where he clinched the world number one ranking last year.

American and Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick will look for a third Cincinnati title. Defending champion and world No. 3 Andy Murray, last year’s finalist Novak Diobovic and fan favorite James Blake are expected to play as well.

Total prize money for the 2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women’s Open is $5 million.

The event will be held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.

Share this article