Fifth seed Elena Dementieva eased past 15th seed Patty Schnyder 6-2 6-3 to reach her fourth US Open semifinal.

The Russian broke twice to take the first set. In the second set the Swiss broke back to level at 3-3, but Dementieva broke back again and didn’t lose another game until the end of the match. The gold medalist at the Beijing Olympics Dementieva has now won 11 matches in a row.

In the semifinals Dementieva will play either second seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia or 29th seed Sybille Bammer of Austria. (source: BBC, photo: Getty Images)

Swiss 15th seed Patty Schnyder and Russian fifth seed Elena Dementieva joined Jelena Jankovic and Sybille Bammer in the quarterfinals of the US Open.

Schnyder advanced with a 4-6 6-3 6-3 win over Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik, while Olympic champion Dementieva defeated China’s Li Na 6-4 6-1.

In the beginning of the match Srebotnik displayed form which enabled her to upset Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round, but Schnyder was not lagging behind with her game – her groundstrokes were consistent and she seized her chances. As for Dementieva, who is wearing Yonex denim by the way, she showed off her improved serve which the 36th-ranked Li broke only once.

Schnyder and Dementieva will meet each other in the quarters. Dementive leads their head-to-head record 9-7, while she also won there last three meetings. (source: Reuters, photos: Getty Images)

It's been a while since I last added a photo to our series about how women's tennis players looked when they were kids. Today I decided to feature Elena Dementieva, the gold medalist at the recently-finished Olympic Tennis Event in Beijing. Read more »

Elena Dementieva is the singles gold medalist at the Beijing Olympics, having defeated fellow Russian Dinara Safina 3-6 7-5 6-3.

What an achievement for Russian tennis, all the three medals were taken by Russian players with Dementieva winning the gold, Safina silver and Zvonareva bronze with a victory 6-0 7-5 over China's Li Na.

Dementieva took advantage of 17 double-fault committed by Safina, plus, the eventual champion Dementieva hit twice as many winners, 26 to 13.

"I never expected a medal — gold, silver or bronze," said Dementieva. "It's unbelievable. For me this is the best moment in my career. I'll never forget it."

The 26-year-old Dementieva won the silver medal in Sydney in 2000. (source: ESPN, photo via Tennis Info Blog)

Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva will fight for the gold medal in an all-Russian final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

In the semifinals the sixth-seeded Safina overcame China's Li Na 7-6(3) 7-5, while the fifth-seeded Dementieva, a silver medalist in Sydney eight years ago, defeated compatriot Vera Zvonareva 6-3 7-6(3).

Safina, who achieved her 15th straight singles victory, overcame 12 double faults in the semifinal against home favorite Li, including four in the sixth game of the opening set and four in the fifth game of the second. However, Li was no stranger to mistakes either – the world No.42 made 69 unforced errors. Well, no wonder Safina was double faulting – the victory over Li came playing barely 12 hours after she lost a doubles match that lasted until 3:30 a.m. local time.

Safina is 5-2 all-time against her childhood friend Dementieva.

Na Li and Vera Zvonareva will play for the bronze medal. (sources: The Sports Network, BBC)