The unranked Clijsters advanced to tonight's title match against Danish ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki when Williams received a second code violation on match point for abusing a linesperson for foot-faulting her.

Having already received a warning from Swedish chair umpire Louise Engzell for smashing her racquet after dropping the opening set, the second offence attracted an automatic point penalty and, because it occurred on match point, the defending champion was suddenly out of the tournament.

Williams, while bitterly disappointed and bemused at continually being foot-faulted during the Open despite claiming not to have been pinged previously this year, accepted her fate and said Clijsters who officially won 6-4, 7-5 had been a deserving victor.

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