Billie Jean joy for Venus

Williams: New York triumph

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Venus Williams claimed her maiden Billie Jean King Cup title with victory over both Svetlana Kuznetsova and Kim Clijsters at Madison Square Garden.

The world number five edged a tense semi-final with Kuznetsova 6-4 before battling past Belgian Clijsters 6-4 3-6 7-5 in the final of the four-player event.

Williams, who came into the exhibition tournament in fine form having just retained her Acapulco crown, broke Clijsters in the first game of the final and then held all of her serves to win the first set.

A straight-sets victory looked on the cards when Williams broke early in the second, however former world number one Clijsters produced an inspired fightback to claim the set 6-3 and force a decider.

Roared on by the near-12,000 strong crowd, Venus then claimed a decisive break in game 12 of the final set to claim the $400,000 prize.

"I always feel really confident on match point, so I love getting to that match point," Williams said. "At quadruple match point I felt nice."

Earlier, Clijsters beat Serbian beauty Ana Ivanovic 7-6 in the first of the one-set semi-finals, outscoring the 22-year-old and 2008 French Open champion 7-2 in the tiebreaker.

Williams came from a break down to beat third-ranked Kuznetsova, the 2009 French Open winner, in the second semi-final 6-4. Kuznetsova took a 2-0 lead but struggled with her serve.

Down 15-40 in the final game, the 24-year-old Russian double-faulted on her to hand Williams the match.