STANFORD, Calif. — Venus Williams has impeccable standards.
"I'd like to imagine that in order to beat me, a person would have to play almost perfect tennis," she said.
Well, Kim Clijsters was far from perfect Sunday, and Williams won 6-3, 6-3 to capture the Bank of the West Classic.
"It's not easy, especially against Venus," Clijsters said. "Every serve has to be good, placed well and has to be over 90 mph. . . . You have to make sure every ball is hit perfect, because she moves so well."
The top-seeded Williams won her fifth title of the year to maintain her No. 2 ranking behind sister Serena Williams. Clijsters, seeded fourth and the defending champion, will fall from No. 5 in the world to No. 7.
"To be honest, I think she played very well, too," Williams said. "She brought out the best in me."
Clijsters, with boyfriend and top-ranked men's star Lleyton Hewitt looking on, tried to keep up but was constantly on the run during the 64-minute match.
Williams had trouble with the sun at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, double-faulting 10 times. But she compensated with patient play and precise shotmaking.
And her serve didn't totally leave her: She nailed a 112 mph ace to seal the first set and she was clocked at 119 during the match.
"The sun was definitely a factor," she said. "I had to start moving my toss around a bit. And when you have to move your toss around, it gets a little shaky."
She elevated the rest of her game. She thwarted Clijsters to start the second set with a tap that just cleared the net.
When Clijsters double-faulted later in the set, she shrugged in frustration. For the next point, Williams sent a smash that could not be returned and went up 3-0.
Down 4-0 in the second set, Clijsters wouldn't give in. She finally broke Williams, who was serving for the match, to narrow it to 5-3. It was the 19-year-old Belgian's only break.
"It was good to break her in that match," Clijsters said. "She's got so much power. She hardly made any unforced errors, I think."
Williams, closely watched by her father Richard and the supportive sellout crowd, came back to break Clijsters for the victory.
"That's one thing I respect about her," Williams said. "She fights until the very end."
Williams beat Lisa Raymond in the semifinals to advance in the $585,000 tournament. Clijsters upset second-seeded Lindsay Davenport, who played in her first WTA tournament in nine months after a knee injury.
Earlier this year, Clijsters beat Williams in the final at Hamburg, Germany, to even their career series at 1-1. Williams won in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open last year.
Williams, who made her eighth appearance at Stanford, won the title in 2000 with a victory over two-time champion Davenport.
Clijsters, whose lone title this year came at Hamburg, defeated Davenport in the Bank of the West last year.
Serena Williams, who took the No. 1 rank from her older sister with her victory at Wimbledon, did not play and was not playing in her sister's next event, the Acura Classic in San Diego.
In the doubles final Sunday, top-seeded Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs defeated Janette Husarova and Conchita Martinez, 6-1, 6-1. The winners advanced to the final when Anna Kournikova withdrew from the semifinal with partner Meghann Shaughnessy because of an abdominal strain.