Fourth seed Elena Dementieva avenged her Wimbledon loss to Serena Williams in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup, while Maria Sharapova has continued to climb back to where she belongs and despite persistent struggles with her serve, she beat Alisa Kleybanova to reach her first final in over a year.
The second-seeded Williams had faced only one break point all week, but was broken five times during the semifinal which Dementieva won 7-6(2) 6-1 to move into her fourth final of the year.
It’s amazing how the Williams sisters are unbeatable at a Grand Slam stage. Serena ended Dementieva’s hopes for her first Grand Slam title two times this year, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, the tournaments Serena eventually won.
Sharapova defeated Kleybanova 6-2 4-6 6-4, despite producing 12 double faults and converting only 5 of 22 break points. It only shows Maria’s well-known strongest asset – her undying will.
Additional info: Sharapova will be seeded at the 2009 US Open, as she’ll move from No.49 to the Top 32 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings.
Yuryevna Divapova has a winning record against Dementieva she is 8-2. For the most part Divapova has a winning record against most of the Russians players ranked in the top fifty. Only Dinara and Kuzzie have a five hundred record against her. Dinara is 3-3 and Kuzzie is 4-4. Today I’ll take Divapova over Dementieva. When it comes to Russian vs. Russian Dimentieva chokes most of the times.
I love this final…great tennis from both to reach this point… it will be thriller!!!
Once again, Maria is dead tired after playing so many matches. Her feet didn’t move, she looks lazy and all, reminds me of a tanking Serena. Disappointed with Maria today, couldn’t convert like 20 break points?
Maria loves night matches. But the biggest problem is why is Maria exhausted again? It’s only one three set match before this. Elena played really crappy but Maria still couldn’t move her feet.
Anyway, proud of her making the final. Good luck at the U.S. Open Maria. 🙂
Teerin, as for the break points, Maria converted 3 out of 7! You must have been too frustrated that it all looked much worse to you than it really was. 🙂
I was really disappointed with the way Sharapova played and to me it looked as if she wasn’t trying. I’m not taking anything away from Dementieva though. Great effort by her to win the title.
I read an article which said that each match that Divapova played in this tournament lasted an average of 1:55 minutes. That is too much time on court, it explains why she was winded on the final. Why did it take Dementievaeva three sets to win this match? It tells me that she still chokes on Russian vs Russian match ups. BTW Divapova’s footwork has always been lacking, she has relied on her power serve and shots. If she doesn’t adjust to her new serve (due to her shoulder injury) she must work on her footwork to compensate, meaning that she becomes more of a finesse player than a ballbasher.
Her footwork is great unlike the final, Carlos. I think she’s really tired and she really needs a fitness coach or something. The wind is also a factor which brought a lot of unforced errors. Maria made more winners, but of course, more unforced errors.
Too bad this final wasn’t a night match otherwise we could’ve got a much closer result or even a different result. Maria played until 1 AM the other day, and she only has a few time to rest. Good luck to Maria at the U.S. Open, she has a week to rest, better not be tired Maria. 😛
And only 7 chances? Are you sure that’s not only the first set or second set? It seemed like 20. 😀 I think I meant all of her chances, I mean her game point chances as well. I think both combined, it could be 20. 😛
You should know Teerin that ballbashers never do well on windy conditions. I still disagree with you with her footwork. I remember Yuryevna Divapova complaining about playing a match that started at 10pm. I believe it was in Madrid a couple years ago, clearly she doesn’t like playing late night.
She does like playing at night, but not late night of course. She hates playing in the sun, the heat, and maybe in her visor. She was the one who requested she could play a night match against Kleybanova. Trust me, I know her better than anyone. 😛
And her footwork did improve by a mile, everyone is saying that. Have you been watching her Toronto matches at all (except the ones where she has to play in the day like against Bammer and Dementieva). Her movement imrpoved a lot, right now her problem is of course still her serve and her stamina.
Not impressed by her footwork Teerin, sorry. Correct me if I’m wrong, your saying that in order for Divapova to have good footwork she has to play at night and not in the sun? If a player has good footwork it will have it all the time not only at a certain time. Divapova “requested to play at night” 1)Like a true diva she got what she requested (demanded). 2)It ended up backfiring on her. How ironic.
Interesting that she doesn’t like playing in the heat and the sun, she has not look bothered and she has done very well under does conditions.
I do agree with you she needs to work on her stamina and her serve. In due time she will get there.
Teerin, I cheched it at the livescore, and it wasn’t for just one set. You were being overemotional. 😀
Okay, but does being tired give her an excuse for why she lost? I mean, Dementieva was probably just as tired, and had to face Serena, while Maria faced Alisa who is incomparable to Serena. Despite coming back from an injury, Maria was still working out right? And so what if she’s better in certain conditions? The players can’t choose what conditions they get, and Elena was better than Maria that day. I hate when excuses are made as to her fitness or whatever. Still, I commend her for making the finals, and she’ll probably do well at the US Open.