Russian Elena Dementieva won the Medibank International Sydney title for the second successive year with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Serena Williams in the final.

Williams was troubled by a sore left knee, but said to have suffered just a little bit and gave all the credit to Dementieva, who won the match on the first of her three match points.

The American is not worried about her fitness for the upcoming first Grand Slam of the season and said that the knee hurts just a little bit and that strapping can ease the pain. (source: BBC, photo GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty Images)

Share This

Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva reached the final of the Medibank International Sydney. The American did it the more complicated way, while the Russian cruised past her semifinal opponent.

The top-seeded Williams had lost the first set against France's Aravane Rezai and trailed 5-2 in the second set before her vast experience once again took charge and she recovered to win 3-6 7-5 6-4.

Contrary to Williams, defending champion and fifth seed Dementieva wasn’t threatened in her semifinal match, and defeated Victoria Azarenka 6-3 6-1.

Williams has a 7-4 career record against Dementieva. They played as much as six times last year and both of them won three matches. (Photo by Dima Korotayev/Epsilon/Getty Images)

Share This

World number three Svetlana Kuznetsova will start her 2010 season and the Australian Open campaign at the Medibank International Sydney.

The Russian is the fifth Top 10 player to join the Sydney field after No.1 Serena Williams, No.5 and defending champion Elena Dementieva, No.4 Caroline Wozniacki and No.7 Victoria Azarenka.

It will be Kuznetsova’s fifth straight participation at the event. In 2008 she was runner-up to then world No.1 Justine Henin. (source: Medibank International Sydney, photo by our reader Jacob)

Share This

It is only January and Elena Dementieva has already won two WTA singles titles in 2009.

After winning in Auckland, beating Elena Vesnina in an all-Russian final, Dementieva reached one more final right away, and won that one too, beating another compatriot, Dinara Safina, 6-3 2-6 6-1.

The world No.4 Dementieva will head into next week's Australian Open riding on a wave of 10 straight wins. The Beijing Olympics gold medalist Dementieva has now won 13 career WTA singles titles, but there are still no Grand Slam trophies in her biography.

Dementieva and Safina are now tied at 5-5 in career meetings, with Dementieva having won all those played on hardcourts.

Oh her way to the title the third-seeded Dementieva defeated Ekaterina Makarova, Jarmila Gajdosova, sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, top seed Serena Williams, and finally second seed Dinara Safina. (photo via Sydney International)

Share This

Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva scored her ninth successive win, beating top seed Serena Williams in the semifinals of the Medibank International Sydney. In the final, the in-form Russian will meet another Russian, Dinara Safina, who advanced with a victory over Ai Sugiyama.

Safina, the second seed, was the first of the two to advance to the final, seeing off the Japanese veteran 6-4 7-6(3). This first semifinal was more competitive than the following one, as Safina won a tight opening set and had to come back from a break down in the second set to make it past Sugiyama.

The third-seeded Dementieva, who has already won one title in 2009, beat Williams 6-3 6-1 in just 68 minutes. After losing their first four encounters in straight sets, Dementieva has now won three in a row.  Just a small addition, remember that Williams had saved multiple match points in two of her matches earlier in the week.

Dementieva and Safina have played nine times so far, with Safina leading the series 5-4. However, all five of her wins have come on clay or grass, while all four of Dementieva's have come on hardcourt, the surface of the Medibank International Sydney. (source and photo: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Share This