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)
Elena Dementieva's Yonex outfit for the 2008 US Open will be denim-based.
Denim looked great on Serena Williams, but we'll see how Elena will work it. (source: Throw Up the Deuce)
Seed No.16 Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic and fifth seed Elena Dementieva of Russia were downed in the first round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Vaidisova was defeated by Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama 6-3 3-6 6-2, while Dementieva lost to Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-4 6-2.
Sugiyama dropped the first three games of the first set, then won eight straight against Vaidisova. Dementieva, who was competing for the first time since losing in Wimbledon semis, was broken five times by Cibulkova and won only 47% of her service points. (sources: CBS, BBC; photos: Getty Images)
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