Current Tournament |
Flushing Meadows, New York
August 27-Sep 9
Grand Slam
Singles:
2R: Bammer[19] def Dementieva[14] 6-1 6-2
2R: Dementieva[14] def Cetkovska 6-3 6-2
1R: Dementieva[14] def Cohen-Aloro 6-4 6-3
Doubles:
2R: Dementieva/Pennetta vs Raymond/Stosur[2]
1R: Dementieva/Pennetta def Laine/Wozniacki 6-4 6-1
|
Next Tournament/s |
US Open Aug 27-Sep 9
|
WTA Rankings |
1. Henin, Justine [1]
2. Sharapova, Maria [2]
3. Jankovic, Jelena [3]
4. Kuznetsova, Svetlana [5]
5. Ivanovic, Ana [4]
6. Chakvetadze, Anna [6]
7. Mauresmo, Amelie [7]
8. Petrova, Nadia [9]
9. Williams, Serena [8]
10. Bartoli, Marion[11]
11. Hantuchova, Daniela[10]
12. Schnyder, Patty [12]
13. Dementieva, Elena [15]
14. Williams, Venus[13]
15. Vaidisova, Nicole [14]
16. Safina, Dinara [16]
17. Hingis, Martina [17]
18. Golovin, Tatiana [18]
19. Peer, Shahar[19]
20. Bammer, Sybille [20]
|
Sony Ericsson Race |
1. Henin 3675
2. Jankovic 3475
3. Ivanovic 2707
4. Kuznetsova 2546
5. Sharapova 2340
6. Williams, S. 2141
7. Chakvetadze 2106
8. Williams, V. 1740
9. Petrova 1698
10. Hantuchova 1684
. . .
16. Dementieva 1357
|
Past Tournament |
New Haven, Connecticut
August 20-26
Tier 2
Singles:
QF: Kuznetsova[1] def Dementieva[6] 4-6 6-3 3-0 ret. (nausea)
QF: Dementieva[6] def Bartoli[3] 6-4 6-2
2R: Dementieva[6] def Harkleroad 6-1 7-6(6)
1R: Dementieva[6] def Santangelo 6-2 3-6 6-0
Doubles:
Not entered
|
|
Thursday, August 31, 2006 |
|
Matthew Cronin wrote something nice about Elena today. You can find it here.
Do you know what I love about New York (and other than The Open, Broadway and that it's close to Connecticut, there's not much anymore), that Elena Dementieva is always a factor here. I love that because she puts her chin strap on week-in, week-out and competes hard. I love that she rarely gets hurt and, for the most part, plays hard. I love that despite the mockery that her second serve has been put under, that's she's a Top-5 player. She and the Buffalo Sabre express (boyfriend Maxim Afinogenov) arrived in New York and promptly dismissed Laura Granville. She very comfortable in the Big Apple, having reached the ’00 semis and the ’04 finals. "I love New York," she said. "New York reminds me of Moscow a little bit. I really love big cities. I like to feel this energy. I like city full of people. This is a very unique city. Even when you're driving to the court it's nice to be in the car and just look around, because every building is huge and it's unique." What would be even more huge is for Dementieva to prove once and for all that she can win a Slam, serve be dammed. "Once you are in the final you're never satisfied with the final again. You're just looking for something more."
|
posted by mjgrace22 @ 7:34 AM |
|
|
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 |
USO 2R: Elena and Emma Laine |
Elena Dementieva will face an unseeded Finn in the form of 58th-ranked Emma Laine in the second round of the US Open. Laine defeated American veteran Meileen Tu in the previous round.
Emma Laine is one of the shorter girls on tour standing at 5'5". She reached the second round of both the Australian Open and the French Open but fell in the opening round of Wimbledon. Laine is a baseliner who prefers hardcourts. At 20 years of age, Laine aspires to improve her tennis ranking.
Unfortunately for Laine, she will have to face Elena Dementieva in the second round. She is a baseliner but Elena Dementieva's strokes from the baseline is notches higher than hers. Elena made a good showing on her first round match and if that continues, Laine doesn't have a chance. All Elena has to do is continue serving well, like she did in her previous match where she was broken only once the entire match.
Davai Elena! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 9:01 AM |
|
|
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 |
USO 1R: Dementieva breezes past Granville |
4th seed Elena Dementieva breezed past Laura Granville 6-1 6-4 in the first round of the 2006 US Open. Dementieva used her powerful groundstrokes to edge out Granville. Although Elena committed 9 double faults, she also fired out 5 aces.
Here are the match statistics and the match summary.
Davai Elena! Well done! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 8:53 AM |
|
|
Monday, August 28, 2006 |
Dementieva starts with Granville today |
Elena Dementieva will face American Laura Granville at the first round of the US Open today. Their match is second at the Armstrong Stadium.
Here's a little preview from the US Open website:
This is a brutal first round match for Granville, who has made some progress as of late, but now must face a Russian who has been a threat at this tournament every year since she stunned the world by reaching the semifinals as a teenager back in 2000. This is the Slam that 2004 finalist Dementieva feels she has the best chance of winning, and after she knocked off Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic in succession to win L.A., it's hard to disbelief her.
She's the most tireless player of the top 10, almost never getting injured and willing to run down every ball. Her serve is still a mess, but in order to be able to attack her swerving slice, you have to be able to read it, and fewer players can.
Former NCAA champ Granville has admittedly underachieved and may not have the killer instinct necessary to crack the top 20, but she has good enough skills to be able to pull off a few big upsets in her career. She just has to convince herself of that. But it's not going to happen here, as Dementieva is a very good bet to make a strong sprint into the second week. Dementieva in two sets.
I don't think Granville is a threat to Elena. But given the jitters Elena usually has during the first rounds of the Grand Slams, nothing is so sure. Elena has to start well today. Let's all wish her the best of luck.
Davai Elena! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 10:42 AM |
|
|
Friday, August 25, 2006 |
USO: Tough road lies ahead |
The final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open, starts on Monday at Flushing Meadows. Everyone will shift into high gear as the world watches the top tennis players battle it out to become this year's champions. The women's field is led by top seeds Amelie Mauresmo, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva.
Elena Dementieva is seeded fourth this year, and this is the highest seeding she's ever got in a Grand Slam. Elena has reached at least the semis of the Open since 2004. This year, let's hope she gets further than that. But a tough road lies ahead for Elena, tests abound that she has to pass.
The first road block is named Laura Granville. Granville is currently ranked 56th in the world rankings and has been doing ok the entire year garnering a 23-17 win-loss record. Elena should have little problems with Granville but we know Elena's temperaments during the first round of the tournament.
In the 2nd round, Elena would play either Meileen Tu or most likely Emma Laine. These two are much lower ranked compared to Elena as well and I can't see anything about their games that could bother Elena.
The third round is possibly where it will become tricky. If the seedings hold up, Elena would be facing Venus Williams in this round and this match will surely be featured at night if they both held up to this round. Venus hasn't played at all this summer (well, except for WTT) and is said to have some kind of injury. But Venus is Venus and we all know what she's capable of. But I think, Elena can definitely prevail if they face each other.
If Elena gets past the third round, she'll likely face either Groenefeld or Kirilenko, who are both slumping hard lately, in the fourth round. And then in the quarters, either Kuznetsova (3-3 H2H), Jankovic or Vaidisova. On this half of the draw also lies 2nd seed Justine Henin-Hardenne.
Here's a summary of Lena's tough draw: (2r onwards are all speculations)
1r: Laura Granville 2r: Meileen Tu or Emma Laine 3r: Venus Williams 4r: Anna Lena Groenefeld, Maria Kirilenko or Sam Stosur QF: Kuznetsova, Jankovic or Vaidisova SF: Justine Henin-Hardenne or Lindsay Davenport
I wish all the best to Elena this coming US Open. Davai Elena! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 2:05 PM |
|
|
|
Pilot Pen over for Elena |
Unfortunately, Elena Dementieva lost a tight 3-setter in the quarterfinals of the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament to Svetlana Kuznetsova today, 6-3 3-6 6-2. The match ended with Kuznetsova garnering a total of 84 points compared to Elena's 82. See, that's how close it is.
Elena didn't play doubles this week so the tournament is officially over for Elena. The good thing about this lost is that she has more time to prepare and relax before the US Open where I hope she'll pick up her first big one.
Davai Elena! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 1:56 PM |
|
|
Thursday, August 24, 2006 |
Elena bagels Dani in third, faces Kuznetsova in QF |
Elena Dementieva outlasted Daniela Hantuchova in the 2nd round action of the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven. Elena won despite dropping the second, 6-2 5-7 6-0. After Elena dropped the second set, she decided that she should have already won it a couple of minutes ago so she demolished Hantuchova. Elena will be facing Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals, a rematch of the 2004 US Open Final.
Elena Dementieva leads Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-2 in their head-to-head meetings, Elena winning the last two. But in their most important match, which is the 2004 US Open Finals, it was Svetlana who triumphed. This match is very interesting. They are both playing well recently, and have improved over the last 2 years. The last time they met was like 17 months ago and a lot of things have changed since then. Let's see how things will turn out tomorrow. All the best to Elena.
Davai Elena! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 8:28 AM |
|
|
Wednesday, August 23, 2006 |
Elena @ WTABackspin |
Elena Dementieva was featured at last week's edition of WTA Backspin. Here's the link for their story. |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 7:35 AM |
|
|
Thursday, August 17, 2006 |
Elena Dementieva arrives in New Haven |
Elena Dementieva arrived early in New Haven and is now doing some painting on New Haven's public courts. Here is the complete article about the event:
Pilot Pen Hotshot Pitches in at East Shore Court by Melissa Bailey
Days before her debut at the Pilot Pen tennis tournament, Russian tennis hotshot Elena Dementieva took a squeegee to the East Shore Park tennis courts to highlight the USTA's investment in refurbishing public courts. "Hopefully we're going to see a winner of Pilot Pen starting on these courts," said the World's No. 5-ranked female tennis pro, flanked by New Haven kids. Dementieva is the first tennis star to fly in for the tournament, which runs Aug. 18 to 26. In Russia, they don't have public courts, she said. Though she wasn't a painting pro — "I've never done this before!" — she was happy to highlight the United States Tennis Association's US Open Series Legacy Program, which helps communities that host US Open Events refurbish public courts. East Shore's public courts, where Career High School tennis teams practice, lay freshly resurfaced Wednesday. After a few of coats of paint, they'll be ready within a week to host the growing number of city kids — 200 per year — who take reduced-priced tennis lessons from the city Parks and Recreation department. That number of participants has quintupled in three years, say city officials, due largely to USTA grants.
"The timing couldn't be better," said Board of Aldermen President Carl Goldfield, representing the mayor at Wednesday's press conference. He noted the city's Open Schools Program, which offered sports and classes to city teens, had just ended, so the courts would give kids a new place to go.
Anne Worcester, Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament director, hoped the tournament would "use the excitement and appeal of professional tennis to inspire participation at the grassroots level." Pilot Pen will also donate money to Parks and Rec for tennis, to be used for more tennis instructors and equipment.
After the press conference and staged painting act, Dementieva signed balls for kids and withstood a blitz of media cameras. In her two days before the tournament, when she's not practicing her admitted weakness, her serve, she'll be walking around between Yale buildings and downtown New Haven sights. "It's very nice to walk around."
--oo-- I just have to add that Elena looks really great in the pictures. It was so nice of her to help promoting tennis. If she could just win a slam, she'd be a great ambassador of tennis. Davai Elena! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 10:55 AM |
|
|
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 |
2 nice articles about Elena |
I came across 2 great articles about Elena Dementieva so I thought why not share it to everyone.
Here's the first one from TennisReporters.net:
With Carson title, Dementieva ready for first Slam By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters. net FROM THE JPMORGAN CHASE OPEN IN CARSON/LOS ANGELES – The best woman not to have won a Grand Slam title grabbed the JP Morgan Chase Open crown with a hard fought 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Jelena Jankovic in the final. Elena Dementieva proved once again that she's a big-time force on hard courts. Now if she can just show the world that she has finally overcome the yips on her serve and has learned to trust shots other than her vicious groundies, she may end up being the queen of New York. "I feel like its just starting for me," Dementieva said. "I feel like I'm just getting to my best game. I just need one more step. I'm young enough and I can make it in the future. It's just taken me a little longer." When Jankovic was feeling right, the ambitious Serbian was able to hang with Dementieva in rallies and hurt her on numerous occasions with her signature shot, a whizzing backhand down the line. But she grew very tired early in the third set and took a medical timeout down 3-0 for heat illness. She fell behind 5-0, but then Jankovic began to zone, and scrapped back to 5-4, knocking off numerous volley winners. "I wanted to come back, so I didn't give up," Jankovic said. "I told myself to fight every point, even when I felt tired and dizzy. I knew I could break her, but the problem was holding my serve." But in the final game, Dementieva began to play deeper and controlled the center of the court, winning the two-and-a-half-hour match with a well-struck forehand crosscourt winner. She then yelled and leapt into the air. A finalist at the ’04 US Open, where she played terribly against Svetlana Kuznetsova, and a semifinalist there another two times, including last year, when she fell to Mary Pierce, the strong-legged blonde is the most tireless player on tour. Kim Clijsters used to own that accolade, but she's been battered and bruised by injury. Since she came on tour in 1999, Dementieva has played 568 singles matches and 220 doubles contests - and then doesn't include Fed Cup. She's the Sony Ericsson's WTA Tour Iron Woman - but could use a bionic arm when she's serving. "She's really fit," said Jankovic, who admitted that her conditioning failed her. "She's one of the most physically prepared players on tour. She could play five sets and not really get tired. I need to improve that so that I don't lose matches because I'm physically not strong enough." Dementieva noted, "I could play five sets, no problem." Dementieva plays week-in, week-out and has never sustained a major injury. It took her seven years to win her first Tier One crown in Tokyo earlier this year, when she thrashed Martina Hingis in the final. She reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the first time last month. She's also been a fourth-round Slam casualty on nine occasions and lost countless tough matches to the other elite players. Her strengths are obvious: speed, conditioning and ball-machine-like groundies. But her serve is still pretty lousy (Jankovic called it "weird"), she lacking in variety and doesn't trust herself enough at the net. But with the number of injuries to the top women's players reaching the stratosphere, Dementieva has to be given a decent shot at reaching the final four at the Open, and even going further. "I'm not going to be that excited to each the semifinals like I was in 2000," she said. "Then I didn't know what to do on court and it came to me really early. Now I'm more solid and I deserve to be in the quarters and the semis of the big events. I'm optimistic for the future." But on a sunny Sunday in Carson, Dementieva tried to keep her mind on the present, the day that she won her first US hard court title. She was planning on going for a swim in the ocean, accompanied her brother 27-year-old brother, Vsevolod, who had a heck of a week as her coach and is due a big bonus. Her boyfriend, hockey star Maxim Afinogenov, was also going along for the celebration. Raising a glass to herself is a rare thing for a woman who is always on the next flight to following week's tournament. In fact, even though she's not playing Montreal, she was already looking at the draw sheet. "Life is short and I need to learn to celebrate more," she said, adding that in a week where she bested the likes of Shahar Peer, Maria Sharapova and Jankovic, she deserved to celebrate. "There were so many of the best players here and I'm the best one, wow. That's why I'm working every day is for these moments. I hope this momentum keeps going forever."
And here's the second one:
No Nervous Breakdown for Her Dementieva overcomes her usual late-match tightness and shaky serving to beat Jankovic in final of Carson event. By Lisa Dillman, Times Staff WriterAugust 14, 2006 This is for all those out there with shaky serves and a nagging inability to close out a tennis match. You might say Elena Dementieva is almost one of those people — her nervous struggles with the serve are often the same struggles of fans. Which is why her performance at the Home Depot Center at Carson on Sunday was especially gratifying for the Russian, as she overcame her nerves, her serve and, more important, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, a woman having a breakthrough tournament. The third-seeded Dementieva nearly lost a 5-0 third-set lead and gripped hard as the lead shriveled to 5-4.But she finally left No. 16 Jankovic behind for good in the final with an emphatic forehand winner on her third match point to take the JPMorgan Chase Open title, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.A giddy Dementieva jumped in celebration after the entertaining 2-hour 23-minute final, thrilling her brother and interim coach Vsevolod and her boyfriend, Maxim Afinogenov of the Buffalo Sabres, who were among the 6,719 in attendance, and her weary mother, Vera, back home in Moscow awaiting a result. "It's a very great feeling," Dementieva said. "It's great to be champion for one week. So many great players are playing this week, and I'm the best one. I mean, wow! This is an amazing feeling. That's why I'm working so hard, to feel this moment and hope to keep this moment. I hope this momentum will go forever." Losing the tag of best player without a Grand Slam title is difficult work, but the groundwork is laid in these types of tournaments. For instance, Kim Clijsters won at Carson last year and went on to take her first Grand Slam event a few weeks later, at the U.S. Open. With Clijsters breaking through in 2005, and Amelie Mauresmo twice this year, the focus shifts to the 24-year-old Dementieva, who lost in two Slam finals, both in 2004. Now she has landed in the select group of women with momentum heading into New York, joining Clijsters and Maria Sharapova, who won in Palo Alto and Carlsbad, respectively. Dementieva was so pleased that the smile hardly left her face during the post-match news conference, even when she was answering the same old questions about her serve — six double faults to Jankovic's five — and the Grand Slam drought."I feel like it's just starting for me," said Dementieva, who won her second title of 2006 and sixth in her career. "I feel I'm just getting to my best game, two finals. I just need one more step. I feel young enough and I can make it in the future." The crowd caught a glimpse of another potential future star in the 21-year-old Jankovic. She is expected to move to No. 21 in the world today and has recorded victories over sisters Venus and Serena Williams this summer, the latter coming Saturday night in the semifinals. Jankovic is unusual on the tour in that she attends a university in her native Belgrade."I'm not an ordinary tennis player who most of the time I think never ever have seen a classroom," she said. "They don't know how it looks like. They don't know what the desks look like…. Tennis career is really short and you don't know what will happen tomorrow, so I need to think about my future." On Sunday she overcame a sluggish start and made it a surprisingly competitive third set after needing treatment for heat illness from the trainer when trailing, 0-3."I didn't give up," said Jankovic, who felt tired and dizzy. "I was still thinking I could do it. I know I can break her all the time. I just have to hold my serve, which I had problems doing because I was really tired. I almost did it. I almost came back to 5-5. She can run all day. I think she can play five sets and not get tired." Then there was the matter of the serve. The tighter Dementieva got, the slower the serve became, and she frequently side-armed it in during the third set. It has thrown off many others before Jankovic."You don't know what's coming up, a slow serve or a fast serve," Jankovic said, smiling. "Sometimes she changes. Sometimes for the second serve, she hits like a first. Normally with the players, they hit a big serve and a little kick serve, and she hits all kinds."
|
posted by mjgrace22 @ 9:24 AM |
|
|
Monday, August 14, 2006 |
Elena, JP Morgan Chase Open Champion |
Elena Dementieva got her sixth career title and second this year when she defeated Jelena Jankovic 6-3 4-6 6-4 in a thrilling final match at the JP Morgan Chase Open. Elena Dementieva will receive a $95,000 prize money and will be back in the Top 5 of the world rankings on August 14.
Davai Elena! I knew you could win this! I hope that this match gives you a lot of confidence especially coming in to the US Open later this month. I'm really glad you pulled through! You've had really great matches this week. Davai Elena!!! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 10:38 AM |
|
|
Sunday, August 13, 2006 |
The sweetest revenge |
Elena Dementieva's Grand Slam revenge continued as she upset her Wimbledon conqueror Maria Sharapova 7-5 6-2 in the semis of the JP Morgan Chase Open. Earlier in the week, she also avenged her Australian and French Open losses to Julia Schruff and Shahar Peer.
Sharapova, the top-seed of this event, came out as the heavy favorite coming in to this match. But Dementieva came out firing with all cylinders surprising Sharapova. She raced to a 5-1 lead in the first set but battled some late set jitters which allowed Sharapova to level at 5-5. But Dementieva wouldn't let her next chances slip away as she broke Sharapova to love to take the set 7-5. Aside from the last game, the second set was pretty much all about Elena. Sharapova saved 6 match points and on the seventh, she sent her forehand long on the baseline.
This win is the sweetest one this week and in quite a while. I'm pretty sure that this will give Elena lots of confidence coming in to the finals where she will face Jelena Jankovic. Jankovic defeated Serena Williams in the other semis today.
In H2H, Elena and Jelena are tied with a win each. Both previous meetings were in 2004 and in hard courts, and both matches ended with a 6-1 6-4 scoreline. Jankovic upset Dementieva at the 1st rd of the 2004 Australian Open while Elena won their last meeting at New Haven 2 years ago. Elena is looking for her second title this season and I fancy her chances of doing so. Another good day tomorrow would be truly fantastic.
Davai Elena!!! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 2:33 PM |
|
|
Saturday, August 12, 2006 |
Elena vs Maria '06 part 3 |
Elena Dementieva defeated Bethanie Mattek in a very interesting quarterfinal match today. Dementieva won 4-6 6-1 6-1. She will face Maria Sharapova in the semis.
Elena and Maria's H2H currently stands at 1-5. They have met twice this year with Maria winning both. And both matches were in straight sets. But this won't matter tomorrow as they play another match. This time, they're playing for a place in the finals of the JP Morgan Chase Open. As Elena said earlier today, the question is whether she can hold her serve on tomorrow's match. If she happens to serve well tomorrow, she has a good chance of making an upset. SO let's hope that she has a good day tomorrow.
Davai Elena!!!
Doubles News
Unfortunately, Elena and Flavia lost to Pascual/Suarez in the quarters today 6-4 7-5. Hope they have a better performance in their next tournament.
Davai Elana and Flavia! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 9:21 PM |
|
|
Friday, August 11, 2006 |
Another sweet revenge |
Elena Dementieva won another revenge match as she beat Shahar Peer 7-5 6-3 in the 3rd round of the JP Morgan Chase Open. Shahar Peer beat Dementieva at Roland Garros in June. Dementieva awaits Bethanie Mattek in the quarterfinals.
Today's match between Dementieva and Peer almost looked like there will be a repeat of their match at Roland Garros. In the first set, Dementieva was leading 4-0 only to blow that away and let Peer level the match at 5-5.
Dementieva spent much of the match yelling at herself in Russian. "Because I was playing not the way I liked," she said. "I was playing defensively from the beginning of the match, and I didn't like it. I was very upset with leading 4-0, like the French Open, and almost losing the set. So many memories were going through my mind." Fortunately, the tides were on Elena's side as she won the match. This match tested Elena and her determination. Her next match where she will face Mattek is arguably easier on paper.
Bethanie Mattek is an American currently ranked 130 in the world but she is most famous for wearing an interesting outfit in her match against Venus Williams in last month's Wimbledon. She turned a lot of heads because of that and her popularity has arguably risen. She's been having good results as of late reaching the 2nd round in Cincinnati. She crushed the talented Alyona Bondarenko 6-1 6-1 in the previous round.
Unfortunately for Mattek, Dementieva is not in the same league as Bondarenko so she would have to dig as much as she can tomorrow if she wants to win the match. Elena Dementieva on the other hand must be somehow relieved that she is facing Mattek instead of Pennetta or Chakvetadze. Though Mattek is ranked way lower than her, there is no room for Elena to relax. She should try her best to win easily and quickly tomorrow to prepare for the semis where she could face Maria Sharapova. The key to tomorrow's game is consistency. If she serves well, she could definitely cruise past Mattek. If she doesn't serve that well, I still expect her to win in 3 sets.
Davai Elena!!!
Doubles News
Elena Dementieva and Flavia Pennetta are triumphant in their first round match against Amy Frazier and Jill Craybas. They will face Paola Suarez and Virginia Ruano Pascual in the next round. Although Suarez/Pascual is unseeded, they are one of the best teams in the draw. Suarez is coming back from an injury which resulted her drop in the doubles rankings. Anyway, this one's a tough match but I'm hoping that Elena and Flavia are up for the task.
Davai Elena! Vamos Flavia! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 1:42 PM |
|
|
Wednesday, August 09, 2006 |
Correction |
Correction to my earlier post...
Elena's 3rd round opponent at the JP Morgan Chase Open is not yet determined contrary to what I have written earlier. Dementieva will face the winner of the match between Paola Suarez and Shahar Peer tomorrow. I'll keep everyone updated about the outcome of this match.
Davai Elena!!! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 3:45 PM |
|
|
|
Elena targets Peer next |
Elena Dementieva got her sweet revenge on Julia Schruff at the 2nd round of the JP Morgan Chase Open in San Diego, California. Dementieva won the match 6-2 7-5. Dementieva will face Israel's Shahar Peer in the next round.
The first set of the match, we saw Elena serving well. During this set, Elena dropped her serve only once and committed just one double fault. Apart from this, she won 86% of her first serve and 57% when receiving points. As the match started, she quickly raced to a 3-0 lead but Schruff tried to get back on the set by reeling 2 straight games to make it 3-2. But Elena wouldn't let Schruff to come back. Elena quickly ended the first set at 6-2.
In the second set, Elena and Julia both held their first service games. But after the first 2 games of the second set, we saw a fest of breaking serve. Elena started to double fault and Julia seemed to have gotten her rhythm. Schruff was serving at 5-5 when Elena decided to raise her level. She broke Schruff to lead the 2nd set for the first time at 6-5. As Elena served for the set, she made a couple of errors which gave Schruff 3 break points. Elena didn't really want to go to a tie-break so she erased Schruff's 3 break points and scored 4 straight points to give her a matchpoint. On her second matchpoint, Elena seized the set and the match. She finally got her revenge on Schruff.
So next up for Elena Dementieva is world no. 25 Shahar Peer. Their current head-to-head favors Peer as she beat Dementieva in their only prior meeting. Dementieva's loss against Peer at the 3rd round of this year's Roland Garros was really not good. In both sets, Dementieva lead Peer 4-1 only to lose 4-6 5-7. Hopefully, Elena can set things straight with Peer in their next match. Another revenge would be sweet.
Davai Elena!!! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 8:35 AM |
|
|
Tuesday, August 08, 2006 |
Elena gets Schruff rematch at LA |
This week, Elena Dementieva is seeded third in the JP Morgan Chase Open at Los Angeles, California. Maria Sharapova, Nadia Petrova and Lindsay Davenport are the other top seeds. Dementieva and Sharapova are on the top half of the draw while Davenport and Petrova leads the bottom half.
Elena Dementieva will face Julia Schruff of Germany on her opening round. In their only prior meeting, Schruff upset Dementieva at the 1st round of the Australian Open earlier this year. Schruff is currently ranked at No. 58 and holds a 17-21 record for the year. Schruff hasn't done anything special since upsetting Elena in the Aussie Open.
This match should motivate Elena. It'll be a nice revenge if she could show Schruff that her previous win against her was a bluff. To be able to do this, I say, Elena should serve well and stay away from unforced errors. Elena should have learned that from her last match against Schnyder in San Diego.
Elena's draw is pretty tough compared to the other top seeds. Shuai Peng or Shahar Peer would most like be her 3rd round opponent and if the seedings hold until the quarterfinals, we might see an Elena-Flavia showdown.
Doubles News
Elena Dementieva and Flavia Pennetta is celebrating their anniversary of playing doubles at this event. Last year, Elena and Flavia hooked up in doubles for the first time and took home the JP Morgan Chase Open doubles title. Hopefully, they can defend their title even if they are unseeded.
Their first round opponent are Americans Jill Craybas and Amy Frazier. If they get through them, they will face fourth-seeded Anna Lena Groenefeld and Meghann Shaughnessy in the quarters. Also on their half of the draw is the Zimbabwean team of Cara Black and Rennae Stubbs.
Ranking Update
Elena Dementieva is currently ranked 6th in the world this week. After failing to advance in the San Diego semis last week, she also lost the chance to return to the top 5. But this week, she has another shot of returning to the top 5.
Nadia Petrova is currently at No. 5 with 2134 points, exactly 74 points ahead of Dementieva with 2060 points. Nadia was a quarterfinalist here last year while Elena was a semifinalist. So Nadia has 49 points to defend while Elena has 88. So minus the points they're defending this week, Nadia stands at 2085 while Elena is at 1972 with Nadia leading by 113 points. Getting to the top 5 next week is difficult, but not impossible. Elena will return to the top 5 if she reaches the finals or wins the title and Nadia does not advance further than the quarters.
Davai Elena!!! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 11:16 AM |
|
|
|
Lena misses Top 5 return |
Patty Schnyder prevented Elena Dementieva's return to the top 5 when she won their quarterfinal match 6-4 6-3 on Friday. Had Elena won this match, she would have been ranked fifth in the world this week.
What baffles me about this lost is that Elena committed only 1 double fault. One might think that since this is the case, Elena must have served well. To my disappointment, she didn't. She sprayed a lot of balls and committed a lot of unforced errors. Anyway, it's a good run to the qf this week but her record against top 10 players this year dropped to a measly 2-7.
On to Los Angeles now. Lots of points to defend so hope Elena does well there next week.
Aja Elena! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 9:07 AM |
|
|
Friday, August 04, 2006 |
Dementieva-Schnyder rivalry continues at San Diego QF |
Elena Dementieva scored a tight win against 44th-ranked Sania Mirza 6-2 3-6 6-3 at their third round match at the Acura Classic earlier today. This win gave Dementieva a ticket to the event's quarterfinals where she will face Patty Schndyder of Switzerland.
Today's match between Dementieva and Mirza is the third time that Dementieva has beaten Mirza this year. The other two coming from Indian Wells and at Wimbledon. The match, which lasted an hour and forty minutes, consisted of 14 breaks of serve. Elena served 10 double faults and an ace during this affair. Mirza's go-for-broke strategy clearly did not work well as Elena was able to end up winning this match. But the real difference here (one that Mirza should learn) is that Dementieva was able to deliver during the important points of the match. Trailing 2-3 in the final set, Elena reeled off 4 straight games to win the match.
And now that we're done with the 3rd round, next up for Dementieva is one of her tennis rivals in the name of Patty Schnyder. Their current head-to-head is 5-5 with Schnyder winning the last match they played (Paris). They are also tied 2-all in hardcourt matches, Elena winning the last hardcourt match they played at the 4th round of last year's US Open.
Between Elena and Patty, I'd have to say that Elena is the better hardcourt player. She is far more accomplished than Patty in this surface having been able to reach the finals of the US Open in 2004 and the semis in 2000 and 2005. Schnyder's best showing in the USO is quarterfinal in 1998. However, Patty is coming fresh from reaching the finals at Stanford last week where she lost to Kim Clijsters.
This match is very interesting, for both players and the fans as well. Schnyder's lefty serve gives Elena some trouble and Elena's forehand really bothers Schnyder. Schnyder is known for putting a lot of spin in her shots so Elena should do her best to return well tomorrow. Elena's serve tonight was not at its best but tomorrow is a different day and one can only hope that despite of how her serve holds up tomorrow, that she'll win this one. This is certainly a winnable match. A win in this match gives her a pass to the semis of this event and a ticket back to the Top 5.
Davai Elena! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 8:55 AM |
|
|
Thursday, August 03, 2006 |
Dementieva-Mirza part trois |
World No. 6 Elena Dementieva made a quick work on Ashley Harkleroad 6-2 6-2 earlier today at the 2nd round of the Acura Classic. The match was over just after an hour and fifteen minutes. Dementieva will next face Indian sensation Sania Mirza.
Here is a good summary of today's match. This match is actually a good one as there were less drama than normal. Normally, Lena's matches are very complicated during the early rounds of the tournaments. Apparently, this one is an exception. Although Elena has committed 8 double faults today, I think she served pretty well. Her DFs might be average today, but her Aces tally is absolutely amazing. She fired 4 aces today and I suppose, Harkleroad did not expect that at all. On the first game of the second set, she committed 4 double faults but still won that game. At 2-2 and deuce in the second set, Elena then blasted 2 aces to lead 3-2. She never looked back afterward.
Elena Dementieva will face Sania Mirza tomorrow as they battle for a place in the QF. Elena currently holds a 2-0 head-to-head advantage against Mirza. Although Elena won both of their previous matches, both matches are extremely close. Both players are not the best servers so expect a lot of service breaks in tomorrow's match. Mirza has a very good forehand and I'm sure that Elena knows that. Even if Mirza's current world ranking is no. 44, she can definitely pull an upset if Elena doesn't take her seriously. But Mirza's consistency is somewhat on the downside the whole year and she hasn't been playing as well as she should be. Meanwhile, Elena has been pretty consistent all year with a 32-12 YTD W-L record compared to Mirza's 9-15. If Elena serves well tomorrow, there will be little problems and the match will probably end up in easy straight sets. Otherwise, we might be taken to a 3-set match tomorrow. Anyhow, Elena is definitely the better player and I believe she will come out victorious tomorrow.
Davai Elena! |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 10:08 AM |
|
|
Wednesday, August 02, 2006 |
Elena to tackle Harkleroad |
Elena Dementieva will try to move on to the 3rd round of the Acura Classic tomorrow as she battles Ashley Harkleroad of the United States. Ashley Harkleroad is a wildcard in this tournament and has defeated Jill Craybas in 1st round action earlier today.
Ashley Harkleroad is currently ranked no. 93 in the world but her current ranking doesn't really justify how talented she is. During her teenage years, she has shown potential of becoming a top player as she reached the Roland Garros finals in the junior's circuit and even won the doubles title in Wimbledon (also in Juniors). Her career hit a minor stop when she decided to retire and marry ATP player Alex Bogomolov. Harkleroad currently holds a 13-15 win-loss record this year. She is a good baseliner but also has fine net play.
Elena on the other hand is currently the world's no. 6 player but her match against Harkleroad will be her first hardcourt match after Miami in March. Elena has a reputation of having difficulty in her opening round matches but even if there may be difficulties on her match against Harkleroad tomorrow, she should pull through it. What worries me is that the match is so early(10a.m.) and we all know that Elena doesn't really want her matches played so early. I hope it won't bother her tomorrow. She should bring her game together tomorrow and serve well.
Davai Elena!
Sad news as Elena Dementieva and Flavia Pennetta lost their match against Mattek/Jankovic 6-3 6-3 earlier today. I have no idea about what happened but I guess that not having played together after a while must have affected them. The only upside about this development is that both Flavia and Elena could concentrate on their singles matches. |
posted by mjgrace22 @ 9:18 AM |
|
|
|
About Me |
Name: mjgrace22
Home: Philippines
About Me: Obviously, I'm a big fan of tennis. My favorite female tennis player is Elena Dementieva. I'm just a simple person with simple dreams.
See my complete profile
|
Previous Post |
|
Archives |
|
Links |
|
Template by |
|
|