Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva Russian: Елена Вячеславовна Дементьева, born 15 October 1981 is a Russian professional tennis player, who has won two Olympic medals in singles, including the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Her performance at the Olympics is the strongest of any competitors in recent times, with an 11–2 record. She has also reached the finals of two Grand Slam events. Her career high ranking was World No. 3 which she achieved on April 6, 2009. As of 24 August 2009, she is ranked World No. 4.Dementieva was born in Moscow to Viatcheslav, an electrical engineer, and Vera, a teacher, both recreational tennis players. She was rejected by Dynamo Sports Club and the Central Red Army Tennis Club at the age of 7, before enrolling at Spartak Tennis Club, where she was coached for 3 years by Rauza Islanova, the mother of Marat Safin and Dinara Safina. She then moved to the Central Red Army Club with Sergei Pashkov, when she was 11. She is now coached by her mother Vera and her older brother Vsevolod. She has homes in Monaco, Moscow and Boca Raton, Florida, and enjoys snowboarding, baseball, reading and traveling
Dementieva played and won her first international tournament, Les Petit As, in France at the age of 13. In 1997, she entered the WTA top 500. She turned professional in 1998 and entered the top 100 in 1999
In 1999, Dementieva represented Russia in the Fed Cup final against the United States, scoring Russia's only point when she upset Venus Williams 1–6, 6–3, 7–6(5), recovering from a 4–1 third set deficit. She played her first Grand Slam main draws, qualifying for the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon and receiving a direct entry into the US Open. She reached the second round at the Australian Open and French Open, made a first round exit at Wimbledon, and reached the third round of the US Open. In 2000, she entered the top 20 by winning more than 40 singles matches for the second straight year and earned more than U.S. $600,000. She became the first woman from Russia to reach the US Open semifinals, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Dementieva won the silver medal, losing to Venus Williams in the gold medal match 6–2, 6–4. In 2000, Dementieva was named the WTA tour's Most Improved Player.
2001 was the second straight year in which Dementieva finished in the WTA's top 20. During the year, she became the top ranked Russian player, a position previously held by Anna Kournikova since December 1997. Dementieva, however, suffered a shoulder injury in Australia. To keep playing matches, she altered her serve, adding slice and changing her motion. After her shoulder healed, her service motion stayed the same. She has double faulted as many as 19 times in a match and hit 50 mph first and second serves. In 2002, Dementieva and her partner Janette Husárová of Slovakia reached the final of the US Open and won the year-ending WTA Tour Championships. In singles, Dementieva defeated a top ranked player for the first time, beating world No. 1 Martina Hingis 6–2, 6–2 in a quarterfinal in Moscow. Dementieva reached the final of that tournament, losing to Jelena Dokić.
Dementieva played the most tournaments among year-end top ten players (27) and won US$869,740 in prize money. At the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida, she won her first WTA Tour title, defeating Amanda Coetzer, World No. 9 Daniela Hantuchová, World No. 4 Justine Henin, and World No. 5 Lindsay Davenport. Dementieva was the lowest seed (tenth) to win the tournament in its 24-year history.[citation needed] She also won back-to-back titles in Bali and Shanghai, defeating Chanda Rubin in both finals. Dementieva finished the year in the top 10 for the first time (World No. 8). In addition, she reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon doubles with compatriot Lina Krasnoroutskaya, beating the Venus and Serena Williams team along the way.
Dementieva's breakthrough year was 2004. In Miami, she defeated Venus Williams in the quarterfinals and Nadia Petrova in the semifinals. Dementieva then lost to the top seeded and two-time defending champion Serena Williams 6–1, 6–1. On 5 April, she reached her highest singles ranking at sixth in the world. With fifth ranked Anastasia Myskina and ninth ranked Petrova, it was the first time that three Russians appeared in the Women's Tennis Association top 10 simultaneously.
In May at the French Open, Dementieva reached her first Grand Slam final, defeating former top ranked Lindsay Davenport in the fourth round, Amélie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals, and Paola Suárez in the semifinals, all in straight sets. Dementieva lost to compatriot Myskina in the first all-Russian Grand Slam final. Previous female Russian Grand Slam finalists had been: Dementieva's coach at the time, Olga Morozova, at 1974's French Open and Wimbledon, followed by Natalia Zvereva at the 1988 French Open).
Later that year at the US Open, after first round losses at Wimbledon to Sandra Kleinová and the 2004 Summer Olympics to eventual bronze-medalist Alicia Molik, Dementieva reached her second Grand Slam final, defeating Mauresmo and Jennifer Capriati en route, both in third set tie-breaks. Countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Dementieva in straight sets in the final, becoming the third consecutive Russian Grand Slam winner. Following the US Open, Dementieva won her first title in Hasselt and reached the Moscow finals for the second time, losing to Myskina.
In 2005, Dementieva reached six semifinals, the most important being at the US Open. She also reached the final in Charleston, losing to Justine Henin, and Philadelphia, losing to Amélie Mauresmo despite serving for the match at 5–4 in the third set. In the quarterfinals of the US Open, Dementieva defeated top ranked Lindsay Davenport 6–1, 3–6, 7–6(6) for her second victory over a current No. 1 player. In the semifinals, she lost to Mary Pierce 3–6, 6–2, 6–2. The momentum of the match with Pierce changed in Pierce's favor when, with Dementieva up a set, Pierce received 12 minutes of on-court medical treatment. Partnering Flavia Pennetta of Italy, Dementieva reached her second doubles final at the US Open.
Following the US Open, Dementieva helped Russia repeat as Fed Cup champions, beating France 3–2 in the final. All three points came from Dementieva, as she avenged her loss to Pierce at the US Open, beat Mauresmo, and then won the deciding doubles match with partner Dinara Safina. At the WTA Tour Championships, Dementieva lost all three round robin matches against Mauresmo, Pierce, and Kim Clijsters with the same score each time: 6–2, 6–3.
After losing to Kim Clijsters in an exhibition in Hong Kong, she lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Julia Schruff. But immediately following that tournament, Dementieva won her first Tier I event, the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. On the run to the title, she defeated Katarina Srebotnik, Nicole Vaidišová, and Anastasia Myskina, all in three sets. She then defeated the resurgent Martina Hingis, with Hingis saying after the match, "If she played like that all the time, she'd win Grand Slams." At the Pacific Life Open, despite double faulting 79 times in six matches, Dementieva reached the final. She defeated rising stars Sania Mirza, Ana Ivanović, and Na Li along the way. Dementieva then upset Justine Henin in a semifinal 2–6, 7–5, 7–5. The victory was her fourth three set match of the tournament, and fatigue contributed to her 6–1, 6–2 loss to Maria Sharapova in the final.
At the French Open she was upset in the third round by Shahar Peer 6-4, 7-5. On grass, Dementieva reached the s'Hertogenbosch semifinals, losing to Michaella Krajicek despite holding a match point, and the Wimbledon quarterfinals. At Wimbledon, Dementieva lost to fourth seeded Sharapova 6–1, 6–4. In August, Dementieva won the tournament in Los Angeles by defeating Jelena Janković in the final 6–3, 4–6, 6–4. En route to her sixth career title, she defeated everyone who had beaten (or, in the case of the US Open, would beat) her at the 2006 Grand Slam tournaments — Schruff in the second round, Peer in the third round, Sharapova in a semifinal (for the first time since 2003), and Janković in the final.
At the 2006 US Open, Dementieva reached the quarterfinals for the fourth time, losing to Janković 6–2, 6–1. The three games she won were all breaks of serve. Dementieva remarked afterwards, "Yeah, it is disappointing, you know. I'm getting older, and I haven't won a Grand Slam, so that's really what I'm thinking about all the time. I feel like I was in a good shape here. That's why it's sad." [2]. She relinquished to Sharapova, who won the tournament, the distinction of being the Russian player to have won the most career prize money. Dementieva qualified for the year-ending WTA Tour Championships for the seventh straight time, the only active player to do so. She lost to all three players in her round robin group: Sharapova 6–1, 6-4; Svetlana Kuznetsova 7–5, 6-3; and Clijsters 6–4, 6–0. Her career win-loss record at this tournament fell to 3-14. She had lost her last nine matches played there.
Dementieva won two titles, reached three semifinals and five quarterfinals, and reached the fourth round at the Australian Open. After her first semifinal of the year at the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Dementieva suffered a rib fracture in Antwerp and was off the tour for nine weeks, leaving the top 10 in April for the first time in nearly four years. Dementieva won her fourth event back on tour at the Tier III event in Istanbul, her first career singles title on red clay. She was upset in the third round of the French Open by Marion Bartoli the following week. Three weeks later, she lost to Bartoli again in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Eastbourne, United Kingdom 6–1, 6–0. At the J&S Cup in Warsaw she lost to Venus Williams. She lost in the third round of Wimbledon to Tamira Paszek 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. During the North American summer hard court season, she reached the semifinals of the tournaments in San Diego and New Haven, Connecticut and the quarterfinals of the tournament in Los Angeles but lost early at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto and at the US Open. By the end of the summer, Dementieva had fallen to World No. 20, her lowest ranking since 2002.
In the fall, Dementieva reached two successive quarterfinals in Beijing and Stuttgart. At the latter event, Dementieva defeated Amélie Mauresmo and Daniela Hantuchová before losing to World No. 1 Justine Henin in the quarterfinals. In the final of the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Dementieva defeated Serena Williams for the first time in her career. Winning the title in Moscow returned Dementieva to the top 10 at World No. 10 for one week. Her first round loss at the Zurich Open the following week, however, caused her ranking to fall to World No. 11. 2007 was the first year since 2002 that Dementieva did not finish the year in the top 10, and did not secure a spot at the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships.
At Dementieva's first tournament of the season, the Medibank International in Sydney, she lost in the first round to Sofia Arvidsson 6–1, 7–5. She then reached the fourth round of the Australian Open before losing to eventual champion Maria Sharapova 6–2, 6–0. Dementieva then travelled to Paris for the Tier II Open Gaz de France indoor tournament. She reached the semifinals before succumbing to seventh-seeded Ágnes Szávay from Hungary 6–3, 1–6, 7–5. Dementieva then won the Tier II, US$1.5 million Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, defeating second-seeded compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. This was Dementieva's fourth career Tier II tournament title but her first since 2006. Along the way, she defeated Patty Schnyder, Alyona Bondarenko, World No. 2 Ana Ivanović, and Francesca Schiavone (who defeated World No. 1 and defending champion Justine Henin in the quarterfinals).
At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Dementieva lost in the quarterfinals to Jelena Janković. This performance caused her ranking to rise to World No. 8. At the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, Dementieva lost in the semifinals to compatriot Vera Zvonareva dropping her ranking to World No. 9. Dementieva was the seventh-seeded player at the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin but reached the final, where she lost to thirteenth-seeded Dinara Safina. Dementieva defeated fourth-seeded Janković in the quarterfinals and second-seeded Ivanović in the semifinals. Dementieva's win over Ivanović was her fourth in four career matches with her.
At the grass court Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, Dementieva was the top-seeded player but lost in the semifinals to Safina 6–3, 6–2. Dementieva was seeded fifth at the Wimbledon. In the second round, she trailed Timea Bacsinszky 3–0 in the third set before winning the last six games of the match. In the fourth round, she defeated Israel's Shahar Pe'er to become the highest seeded woman left in the draw after the early round defeats of first seeded Ivanović, second seeded Janković, third seeded Sharapova, and fourth seeded Kuznetsova. In the quarterfinals, Dementieva held on to defeat Russian compatriot Nadia Petrova 6–1, 6–7, 6–3 after Dementieva failed to hold serve while serving for the match in the second set at 5–1 and 5–3. In her first Wimbledon semifinal and her first Grand Slam semifinal since the 2005 US Open, Dementieva lost to eventual champion Venus Williams 6–1, 7–6(3).
Dementieva played three hard court tournaments during the summer and was seeded fifth at all three. She began her summer season by losing to Dominika Cibulková 6–4, 6–2 in the second round of the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal. At the Beijing Olympics, Dementieva was down a set and a break before defeating fourth-seeded Serena Williams in the quarterfinals 3–6, 6–4, 6–3. She then defeated compatriot Zvonareva in the semifinals and Safina in the three set final to win the gold medal.
At the US Open, Dementieva was one of six players with the opportunity to be ranked World No. 1 upon completion of the tournament. Dementieva defeated Schnyder in the quarterfinals but lost to Janković in the semifinals 6–4, 6–4. Dementieva was up a break in each set but committed 42 unforced errors and lost each of her last five service games. Nevertheless, her ranking improved to World No. 4 for the first time since 2004.
At the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Dementieva was seeded third and qualified for the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships with a second-round victory against Alizé Cornet. However, she was upset in the quarterfinals by Katarina Srebotnik. At the Tier II Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Dementieva was seeded fourth. She easily won her first match by defeating Sybille Bammer 6-1, 6-4, but was upset in the quarterfinals by Victoria Azarenka 7–6(6), 3–6, 6–1. Defending her title at the Kremlin Cup, Dementieva was seeded third. She defeated Katarina Srebotnik in the second round, and Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals she faced Jelena Janković. She won the first set easily 6–0 but only managed to win one game after that, losing the next two sets 6–1, 6–0. She committed 31 unforced errors in the second and third set. She won her next event though, the Fortis Championships Luxembourg, defeating Caroline Wozniacki in three sets in the final.
At the WTA Tour Championships held in Doha, Qatar, Dementieva was seeded fourth. In her first round robin match, she lost her first match to Venus Williams, before defeating Dinara Safina in the second. After Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament, Dementieva played Nadia Petrova, and defeated her to reach the knock-out stage. In the semifinals she lost to Vera Zvonareva 7–6(7), 3–6, 6–3.
Dementieva started the 2009 WTA Tour by winning the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, where she was the top seed. In her first match, she rallied from being down 1–5 in the first set to win in straight sets against Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei. In the second round, she defeated crowd favourite Marina Erakovic 6–2, 6–3. She then defeated fifth-seeded Shahar Peer. In the semifinals, she beat last year's runner-up, Aravane Rezai, in straight sets. She ended the tournament by defeating unseeded Elena Vesnina in the final in straight sets.[3]
At the Medibank International in Sydney, the first Premier event of the year, Dementieva was seeded third. She defeated sixth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwańska in the quarterfinals and upset top-seeded Serena Williams in the semifinals 6–3, 6–1. She then won her second consecutive tournament by defeating compatriot and second-seeded Dinara Safina in the final. [4]
Dementieva was seeded fourth at the Australian Open and was one of three players who had a chance of being ranked World No. 1 at the end of this tournament. She needed three sets to win her first round match against Kristina Barrois and defeated Iveta Benesova in the second round. Samantha Stosur of Australia had a 5–2 lead over Dementieva in the first set of their third round match before Dementieva won 7–6(6), 6–4. She then advanced to the quarterfinals of this event for the first time in her career by defeating Dominika Cibulkova. Carla Suarez Navarro, who had upset Venus Williams earlier in the tournament, lost to Dementieva in the quarterfinals. Dementieva's 15-match winning streak ended in the semifinals when she lost to Serena Williams 6–3, 6–4 after Dementieva had led 3–0 in the second set.
Playing for Russia in Fed Cup in Moscow, Dementieva defeated Zhang Shuai 6–3, 6–0.
At the Open GDF Suez tournament in Paris, Dementieva advanced to her third final of the year after Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament before their scheduled semifinal due to a knee injury. Amelie Mauresmo then defeated Dementieva in the final in three sets.
At the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a Premier 5 event, she was seeded fourth. She defeated Sybille Bammer in the second round, becoming the 27th woman during the open era to record 500 career singles victories. She then defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues in the third round before losing to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals 6–3, 6–3.
Dementieva's next tournament was the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, which was the first Premier Mandatory event of the year. After receiving a bye in the first round, she was upset by the Czech Republic's Petra Cetkovska 7–6(2), 2–6, 6–1. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, another Premier Mandatory event, Dementieva was seeded fourth but committed 45 unforced errors while losing to 13th seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round 7–5, 6–4. Despite the loss, she achieved her highest career singles ranking of World No. 3. By reaching the Top 3, she became the sixth Russian to do so, after Anastasia Myskina, Nadia Petrova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova, and Safina
She began the spring clay court season at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, a Premier event on the tour. She lost there in the semifinals to Wozniacki 6–4, 5–7, 7–5 in a nearly three hour match.[6] Dementieva survived a 2–5 deficit in the second set and saved three match points on her own serve at 3–5 in that set
At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, another Premier event, she beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Agnes Szavay and Marion Bartoli to reach semifinal where she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 6–2. Elena and Vera Zvonareva are among the top 10 player that scheduled not to play the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome the following week, which is a Premier 5 event.
Dementieva was seeded 3rd for the 2009 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. She defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6–4, 6–1 to reach the second round where she defeated Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6–3, 6–2. However, she was upset by former world no. 1 Amelie Mauresmo in the third round by 1–6, 6–4, 6–2.
At the French Open, she defeated Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa in the first round. She played former World No.4 Jelena Dokic in the second Round, in what looked to be the first major upset, as Dementieva trailed 2–6, 1–0 . However, Dokic strained her back and was forced to retire. She played Samantha Stosur in the third round and lost 6–3 4–6 6–1.[7]
Since the French Open, her next tournament was the 2009 AEGON International as a warm-up for the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. Elena was seeded 1st and defeated Maria Kirilenko in the first round, but was upset in the second round by Virginie Razzano 6–0, 3–6, 7–6(4).
Dementieva was seeded fourth at Wimbledon Championships. She defeated Alla Kudryavtseva, Aravane Rezai, Regina Kulikova and Elena Vesnina in her way to the quarter final, winning all of her first four matches in straight sets and only dropping 16 games. She reached the Wimbledon semis for the second straight year with a crushing 6–2 6–2 victory over unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone. In her second consecutive Wimbledon semi, Dementieva put on a thriller against the No. 2 seed Serena Williams. After having taken the first set in a tiebreak, she dropped the second set 7–5. With Williams serving at 4–5 in the third, Dementieva even held a single match point but eventually lost the match 6–7(4), 7–5, 8–6 in the longest Wimbledon semifinal of the open era.
Dementieva was seeded 3rd for the Bank of the West Classic. She defeated Anne Keothavong, Maria Kirilenko and Daniela Hantuchova on her route to semifinal, all in straight sets. However, in the semifinal, Dementieva lost to Venus Williams 6–0, 6–1. At the Cincinnati Masters she defeated Yanina Wickmayer, Sorana Cirstea and Caroline Wozniacki to reach the semifinal. Dementieva the fell to Jelena Jankovic, 6–7(2), 6–0, 6–7(6), despite leading 6–2 in the final set tiebreak.
Her final US Open Series tournament was the Rogers Cup in Canada. She defeated Ai Sugiyama, Shahar Peer and Samantha Stosur to make her 10th semifinal appearance of the year. She advanced to the final by defeating Serena Williams 7–6(2), 6–1. Although the head-to-head records was 2-8 in favors of Maria Sharapova, she defeated her unseeded compatriot 6–4, 6–3 in the final to win her third title of the year and 14th of her career.[8] This victory worth a lot for Dementieva as she moved back to her #4 position in the ranking which was overtook by Jelena Jankovic on the previous week. With the capture of the Toronto championships and two semifinal at Stanford and Cincinnati, Dementieva secured the US Open Series crown for this year.
After defeating Camille Pin, 6–1, 6–2, in her first round of the US Open, Dementieva moved through to the second round where she was defeated in an upset by American Melanie Oudin, 7–5, 4–6, 3–6, ranked 70th at the time
More About Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva Profile
Елена Вячеславовна Дементьева
Elena Dementieva Tennis Player
Elena Dementieva Pics
Elena Dementieva Galleries
Elena Dementieva Rusia Girl
Elena Dementieva Wallpaper
Beauty Pose Elena Dementieva
Another Elena Dementieva Wallpaper
