Venus wins Billie Jean King Cup

Venus Williams defeated Kim Clijsters 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to win the Billie Jean King Cup in the BNP Paribas Showdown at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

Williams was down 3-4 in the final set when Clijsters hit a volley into the net on break point to level the set.

The pair held their serve the rest of the way until Clijsters, down 15-40, hit the break point past the baseline to hand Williams the win and $400 000 of the $1.2 million prize money.

Williams beat third-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2009 French Open winner, 6-4 in the second of the one-set, no-ad semifinal.