Elena
Dementieva will head to the Australian Open as the hottest player in
women’s tennis after claiming the Medibank International Sydney on
Friday night.
Dementieva enjoyed a 6-3 2-6 6-1 win over
countrywoman Dinara Safina to go alongside her Auckland Classic title
won the week before, marking the world No.4 as the woman to watch at
Melbourne Park.
The 27-year-old has lost just one set in her last 10 matches and has taken out three of the last four tournaments she’s played.
Her challenge now is to add a grand slam trophy to her cabinet - something she’s failed to do over 10 years and 40 majors.
Dementieva
was electric in the first set, capitalising on her opponent’s wayward
groundstrokes to steal two breaks of serve and the early advantage.
But it was a different Safina that came out in the second.
After
what appeared to be a dressing down from coach Zjelko Krajan courtside,
Safina cut down her errors and broke her countrywoman twice to claim
the set in a canter.
Some even more colourful exchanges were had
between Safina and Krajan after the second set, at one stage the
22-year-old telling her coach his laughing and joking with others in the
stands was “pissing her off”.
The two managed a few smiles and
chuckles to show there were no hard feelings but the pep talk hardly
helped as Safina quickly found herself down 4-0 in the decider.
Safina pulled back one break of serve but it mattered little as Dementieva closed out the match in 1 hour and 55 minutes.
Despite the loss it was also an impressive lead-up for Safina who hadn’t lost a set in Sydney until Friday night.
Safina
rose from No.15 to No.3 in the rankings in a stellar 2008 and, like her
compatriot, about the only thing she hasn’t won is a grand slam.
Lena 贏得09年第一個比賽﹐好開心呢
繼續努力﹐加油啊﹐係澳網一定會有好成績呢
世界排名第四的您一定會更上一層樓呢, You are always the best and hard work player
