Beaten Venus tips her hat to Clijsters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Venus Williams tipped her hat to Kim Clijsters on Sunday after she was outplayed, out hit and outwitted by the Belgian in the fourth round of the U.S. Open on Sunday.

The American, champion in New York in 2000 and 2001, lost 6-0 0-6 6-4 as Clijsters reached the quarter-finals in just her third event back after two years away from the tour, during which time she gave birth to her first child.

"She played so well, hit a lot of deep balls," Williams said. "She just played really consistently and aggressively at the right times."

Third seed Williams joined top seed Dinara Safina and another Russian, fourth seed Elena Dementieva, on the sidelines, thanks in no small part to a shocking start when Clijsters took the first six games in just 27 minutes.

"I had a really slow start," Williams said. "Just didn't get going. The second set I got going a lot better.

"But I think she just played more consistently at the end. I had a few errors sometimes. She just played really well."

For the fourth match in a row, Williams sported heavy strapping to protect her left knee but though she admitted that her fitness had played a part, she did not use it as an excuse.

"I wasn't able to play 100 percent but I gave my best," she said. "Unfortunately, I'm not in the singles but I can just continue to recover and get better, and hopefully my next event will be 100 percent."

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)