Eighth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia beat third-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 5-7 6-3 6-3 to reach the semifinals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

The match was very close. Both players faced many break points. World No.2 Ivanovic was the first to be a break up in the deciding third set. However, she wasted that opportunity, as well as the fact that she could come back in the game when Dementieva was serving for the match, as she saved astonishing five match points.

In the semifinals, world No.11 Elena Dementieva plays unseeded Francesca Schiavone, who upset Justine Henin, previously unbeatable in Dubai. The other semifinal features Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic. (photo via Getty Images)

This month, Canada's street-style magazine PEACE published an interview with Elena Dementieva, together with beautiful photographs of the Russian, who has recently won the Kremlin Cup title with the victory over Serena Williams.

The part of the interview I found most interesting was Dementieva’s story about her rib injury (more precisely, three broken ribs!) which had sidelined her from playing tennis for almost two months. Additionally, in the interview Dementieva pointed out Ana Ivanovic as the next young player to become world number one. Read more »

Elena Dementieva claimed her first Kremlin Cup title on Sunday with a 5-7 6-1 6-1 victory over fourth-seeded Serena Williams in their fifth career meeting.

This title has a special significance to the Russian, since it is her first title on home soil in her 11th Kremlin Cup appearance. Before she had lost two finals at the tournament in Moscow, in 2001 and 2004.

After losing the first set, world No.14 Dementieva came back strong, breaking Williams three times in each of the next two sets. During the match, Williams made 59 unforced errors to her opponent’s 31.

"She just played really unbelievable, she should play like that more often," said world No.7 Serena Williams.

"I'm not going to make excuses for myself. I played terrible. I had a feeling that almost every shot I hit, it was out."

Having won her eighth career title, Dementieva earned $182,000 and took her record against Williams to 1-4. (source: Reuters, photo via Yahoo)

Elena Dementieva was a tough opponent, she battled and kept the match uncertain, but world number one Justine Henin was simply too strong and advanced to the semifinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart with a 6-4 6-4 victory.

Russian Dementieva had several break points in the first game, but didn’t convert them. Then, Henin went to a 5-0 lead, and when everyone thought that the Belgian top seed is impressively going to take the first set, Dementieva held two of her serves and made two breaks! Wow! However, Henin won the first set 6-4 when Dementieva double-faulted. The second set was also uncertain with Henin making three breaks, Dementieva two. Read more »

Saturday was the final day of the Istanbul Cup and the Strasbourg Open. Elena Dementieva (left) won the title in Turkey, while Anabel Medina Garrigues (right) cruised to victory in France.

Elena, the 13th-ranked player in the world, won the event when France's Aravane Rezai withdrew because of the knee injury she sustained in her semifinal match against Maria Sharapova. Dementieva lead 7-6 (7-5) 3-0 when Rezai retired. This is the Russian's first singles title in 2007, and she hopes that she will continue to play well next week at Roland Garros where she's seeded 13th.

At the Strasbourg International, the top seed Amelie Mauresmo was upset by the sixth seed Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4 4-6 6-4. This is Garrigues' seveth career title, and the first tournament win of the year. World No. 5 Mauresmo had been looking for a confidence boost ahead of Roland Garros, her home Grand Slam at which she has been unsuccessful so far — she has never made it past the last eight.

Seventh seed Elena Dementieva needed 159 minutes to overwhelm unseeded Meilen Tu of America 6-7 (5), 6-0, 7-5.

This was Russian's first match since February 15th, and the first one she has won since February 2nd. World No. 13 was sidelined by injury for two and a half months; she broke three of her ribs while training with her new coach. When she complained about the pain she felt, the coach kept telling her that it was a normal part of the exercise. In the end, he lost his job, and Dementieva lost two months of practice. However, it could have been even worse — "I kept wondering if I should come back to competitive tennis," she said.

Weather conditions, severe wind and light snow, made Dementieva's comeback match even more difficult; "When it's this cold, I can feel my broken ribs. It's so nice to sit in a warm room," she said in a press conference.

Demetieva is happy to have won this match, but still, she feels that her tennis was rather poor. (via: J&S Cup)

Elena Dementieva, ranked 13th, plays at J&S Cup in Warsaw, which starts on Monday, after an injury has put her off court from an early February. She injured her rib while playing in Antwerp, and hasn't played since.

If the second-seeded Dementieva manages to defeat Meilen Tu of America in the first round of this $600,000 tournament, she is likely to face Venus Williams in the second round; if she reaches the quarterfinals, there is a possibility of meeting fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Dementieva had struggled this season even before her injury. She was defeated in the Sydney second round by China's Na Li. She was eliminated from the Australian Open in the fourth round by Nicole Vaidisova, and then, in Tokyo, she fell to Martina Hingis in the semis. In Antwerp, she retired in her opening match, against Russian Elena Likhovtseva .

However, in Warsaw Dementieva is lucky to have avoided the top part of the draw which includes top-seeded and 2005 champion, Justine Henin, fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova, as well as Anna Chakvetadze, seeded sixth. (source: IOL)

Svetlana Kuznetsova's poor play in Miami cost her to go down two spots in WTA Tour Singles Rankings (from 3rd to 5th). Two players own her a favor for their higher ranking – Amelie Mauresmo returns to the top three, while Kim Clijsters jumps to the 4th place. Russia still has a representative in the 10th place, but this time a different one – Anna Chakvetadze replaced Elena Dementieva. There's one person who seems to have an enormous determination to return to the prestigious top ten and that is Serena Williams. This week she has jumped from number 18 to number 11.