Elena Dementieva

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Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva at the Canadian Open - Rogers/AT&T - Montreal 2002 Canadian Open
Country (sports) Russia
ResidenceMoscow, Russia
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned proAugust 25, 1998
PlaysRight; Two-handed backhand
Prize money$8,025,992
Singles
Career record399-209
Career titles7 WTA, 3 ITF titles
Highest rankingNo. 4 (October 25, 2004)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open4th (2002, 2005, 2007)
French OpenF (2004)
WimbledonQF (2006)
US OpenF (2004)
Doubles
Career record147-82
Career titles6 WTA, 3 ITF titles
Highest rankingNo. 5 (April 14, 2003)
Last updated on: February 21, 2007.
Olympic medal record
Women's Tennis
Representing  Russia
Silver medal – second place 2000 Sydney Singles

Elena Vyacheslavovna Dementieva (pronounced: YELL-e-nuh de-MENT-ye-vuh Russian: Елена Вячеславовна Дементьеваⓘ); born October 15, 1981, Moscow), better known as Elena Dementieva, is a professional tennis player from Russia.

Tennis career

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.

1999-2002

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 defecit. She played her first Grand Slam main draws, qualifying for the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon and receiving a direct entry into the U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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, and many consider it the worst serve among the top players. She has double faulted as many as 19 times in a match and hit 50 mph first and second serves. Where the ball toss should be in the "1 o'clock position" (if a clock was placed above the server's head, the ball should be tossed where 1 o'clock was) she was tossing them at 2 o'clock.

In 2002, Dementieva and her partner Janette Husarova of Slovakia reached the final of the U.S. 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 Dokic.

2003

In 2003, Dementieva played the most tournaments among top ten players (27) and won approximately U.S. $900,000 in prize money. At Amelia Island, she won her first WTA tour title, defeating Amanda Coetzer, Daniela Hantuchová, Justine Henin, and second ranked Lindsay Davenport. Dementieva was the lowest seed (10th) to win the tournament in its 24-year history. She also won back-to-back titles in Bali and Shanghai, defeating Chanda Rubin in the final in both events. Dementieva finished 2003 in the top 10 for the first time (No. 8). In addition, she reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon doubles with her friend and compatriot Lina Krasnoroutskaya, beating the Venus and Serena Williams team along the way.

2004

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 April 5, 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, Amelie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals, and Paola Suarez in the semifinals, all in straight sets. Dementieva lost to compatriot Myskina in the first all-Russian Grand Slam final. (The last female Russian Grand Slam finalist was Dementieva's coach at the time, Olga Morozova, at 1974's French Open and Wimbledon.)

Later that year at the U.S. Open, after a first round loss at Wimbledon to Sandra Kleinova, Dementieva reached her second Grand Slam final, defeating Mauresmo and Jennifer Capriati en route. Countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Dementieva in straight sets in the final, becoming the third consecutive Russian Grand Slam winner. Following the U.S. Open, Dementieva won her first title in Hasselt and reached the Moscow finals for the second time, losing to Myskina.

2005

In 2005, Dementieva reached six semifinals, the most important being at the U.S. Open. She also reached the final in Charleston, losing to Justine Henin, and Philadelphia, losing to Amelie Mauresmo despite serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set. In the quarterfinals of the U.S. 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 U.S. Open.

Following the U.S. 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 U.S. 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.

2006

Dementieva started slowly in 2006. 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 Vaidisova, 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. The conditions were also windy that day, and her flat, counter-punching strokes had less margin for error than those of Sharapova.

After the Pacific Life Open, Dementieva lost in the fourth round in Miami to Tatiana Golovin. Dementieva's subsequent clay court results were largely mediocre. Dementieva lost in the Warsaw semifinals to Clijsters, Berlin third round to Hingis for the first time in four matches, and the Rome quarterfinals to Dinara Safina. Dementieva then lost in the third round of the French Open to Shahar Peer 6-4, 7-5 after being up 4-1 in both sets.

On grass, Dementieva reached the s'Hertogenbosch semifinals, losing to Michaella Krajicek despite holding a match point, and the Wimbledon quarterfinals. At Wimbledon, Dementieva beat Mirza, Meghann Shaughnessy, Elena Likhovtseva, and Shenay Perry before losing to fourth seeded Sharapova 6-1, 6-4. Despite the loss, Dementieva was applauded by many fans and critics for her improvement in her serve. She no longer tossed the ball so far to the side and hit the slice serve every time. Because of this, she was able to hit first serves up to 110 mph, which was generally where top players of the game were consistently hitting. However, her second serve was still vulnerable to the awkward motion, as they usually were about half the speed of her first serve.

Dementieva was Russia's top player for the 2006 Fed Cup World Group I playoff against Croatia, winning both her single matches in straight sets.

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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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." [1]. She relinquished to Sharapova, who won the tournament, the distinction of being the Russian player to have won the most career prize money.

In the second round of the tournament in Filderstadt, Dementieva overcame cramps and a 6-4, 4-1 deficit to defeat Srebotnik 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. When serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set, Dementieva collapsed and needed treatment. Dementieva failed to serve out the match but broke Srebotnik again and finished the match on her second opportunity. But due to the injury sustained from her second round match, Dementieva withdrew from the tournament.

At her home tournament in Moscow, Dementieva reached her seventh semifinal of 2006, losing to Anna Chakvetadze, after defeating Peer (and saving a match point) in the second round and Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals for the first time this year.

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 9 matches played there.

2007

Dementieva's first official tournament of the year was in Sydney, Australia, where she lost in the second round to Li Na 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 after being up 5-2 in the third set and holding five match points.

At the 2007 Australian Open, Dementieva matched her career best result at this tournament by reaching the fourth round, where she lost to Nicole Vaidisova 6-3, 6-3.

Dementieva unsuccessfully attempted to defend her singles title at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, losing her semifinal match to Martina Hingis 6-4, 6-3. Because of an injury, she could not participate in the tournament in Paris. Without having fully recovered, she played again in Antwerp but had to retire from her second round match against Elena Likhovtseva. She then travelled to Indian Wells, California to compete in the Pacific Life Open but withdrew from the tournament at short notice.

Dementieva returned to playing tennis in the Tier II Warsaw event, where she lost in the second round to Venus Williams. At the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Dementieva lost to Nadia Petrova in the third round 6-3, 6-3. At the Tier I Telecom Italia Masters Roma in Rome, Dementieva lost in the quarterfinals to Jelena Janković 6-2, 6-1.

In her final tune-up event to the French Open, Dementieva won the Istanbul Cup, defeating Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai in the final. This was her seventh career WTA tour singles title.

Grand Slam singles finals

Runner-ups (2)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
2004 French Open Russia Anastasia Myskina 6-1, 6-2
2004 U.S. Open Russia Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 7-5

Titles (16)

Singles (7 WTA, 3 ITF)

Legend
Grand Slam (0)
Tour Championships (0)
Tier I Event (1)
Tier II (3)
Tier III (3)
Tier IV & V (0)
ITF Titles (3)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the Final Score
1. 27 October, 1996 Jurmula, Latvia Hard Indoors Belarus Vera Zhukovets 6-2, 6-2
2. 17 August, 1997 Istanbul, Turkey Hard Bulgaria Dessislava Topalova 7-5, 6-4
3. 8 March, 1998 Buchen, Germany Carpet Germany Miriam Schnitzer 6-2, 6-2
4. 14 April, 2003 Amelia Island, USA Clay United States Lindsay Davenport 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
5. 8 September, 2003 Bali, Indonesia Hard United States Chanda Rubin 6-2, 6-1
6. 15 September, 2003 Shanghai, P.R. China Hard United States Chanda Rubin 6-3, 7-6
7. 27 September, 2004 Hasselt, Belgium Hard Russia Elena Bovina 0-6, 6-0, 6-4
8. 5 February, 2006 Tokyo, Japan Carpet Switzerland Martina Hingis 6-2, 6-0
9. 13 August, 2006 Los Angeles, USA Hard Serbia Jelena Janković 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
10. 26 May, 2007 Istanbul, Turkey Clay France Aravane Rezai 7-6, 3-0

Doubles (6)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponents in the final Score
1. May 12, 2002 Berlin, Germany Clay Slovakia Janette Husárová Slovakia Daniela Hantuchová &
Spain Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 		0-6, 7-6(3), 6-2
2. August 4, 2002 San Diego, California Hard Slovakia Janette Husárová Slovakia Daniela Hantuchová &
Japan Ai Sugiyama 		6-2, 6-4
3. October 6, 2002 Moscow, Russia Carpet Slovakia Janette Husárová Serbia and Montenegro Jelena Dokić &
Russia Nadia Petrova 		2-6, 6-3, 7-6(7)
4. November 11, 2002 Los Angeles, USA Carpet Slovakia Janette Husárová Zimbabwe Cara Black &
Russia Elena Likhovtseva 		4-6, 6-4, 6-3
5. June 21, 2003 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands Grass Russia Lina Krasnoroutskaya Russia Nadia Petrova &
France Mary Pierce 		2-6, 6-3, 6-4
6. August 14, 2005 Los Angeles, USA Hard Italy Flavia Pennetta United States Bethanie Mattek &
United States Angela Haynes 		6-2, 6-4

Runner-ups (18)

Singles (11)

No. Year Tournament Opponent in the Final Result
1. 18 September 2000 Sydney Olympics, Australia United States Venus Williams 6-2, 6-4
2. 26 February 2001 Acapulco, Mexico South Africa Amanda Coetzer 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
3. 1 October 2001 Moscow, Russia Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Jelena Dokić 6-3, 6-3
4. 17 June 2002 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands Greece Eleni Daniilidou 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
5. 22 March 2004 Miami, USA United States Serena Williams 6-1, 6-1
6. 24 May 2004 French Open, France Russia Anastasia Myskina 6-1, 6-2
7. 30 August 2004 U.S. Open, USA Russia Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 7-5
8. 11 October 2004 Moscow, Russia Russia Anastasia Myskina 7-5, 6-0
9. 11 April 2005 Charleston, USA Belgium Justin Henin 7-5, 6-4
10. 31 October 2005 Philadelphia, USA France Amelie Mauresmo 7-5, 2-6, 7-5
11. 6 March 2006 Indian Wells, USA Russia Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-2

Doubles (7)

  • 2001
    • Moscow (w/Krasnoroutskaya) (lost to Hingis & Kournikova)
  • 2002
    • Paris (lost to Tu & Dechy)
    • Indian Wells (lost to Raymond & Stubbs)
    • US Open (lost to Ruano Pascal & Suarez)
  • 2005
    • Sydney (w/Sugiyama) (lost to Stewart & Stosur)
    • US Open (w/Pennetta) (lost to Raymond & Stosur)
  • 2006
    • Berlin (w/Pennetta) (lost to Yan & Zheng)

Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the Istanbul Cup, which ended on May 26, 2007.

Tournament 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Career SR Career Win-Loss2
Australian Open A A 2R 3R 3R 4R 1R 1R 4R 1R 4R 0 / 9 14-9
French Open A A 2R 2R 2R 4R 1R F 4R 3R 0 / 8 17-8
Wimbledon A A 1R 1R 3R 4R 4R 1R 4R QF 0 / 8 15-8
U.S. Open A A 3R SF 4R 2R 4R F SF QF 0 / 8 28-8
Grand Slam SR 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 1 0 / 33 N/A
Grand Slam Win-Loss 0-0 0-0 4-4 8-4 8-4 10-4 6-4 11-4 14-4 10-4 3-1 N/A 74-33
Tokyo A A A A A 2R QF 2R QF W SF 1 / 6 10-5
Indian Wells A A A SF QF 3R 4R A SF F A 0 / 6 20-6
Miami A A A 4R SF QF 2R F QF 4R A 0 / 7 20-7
Charleston A A A 4R A 2R 3R 3R F A A 0 / 5 10-5
Berlin A A A QF A 1R 1R 3R A 3R 3R 0 / 6 7-6
Rome A A 2R 2R A A 2R 2R 2R QF QF 0 / 7 6-7
San Diego A A A 1R 3R 3R 3R SF 2R QF 0 / 7 8-7
Montreal/Toronto A A A 1R 3R 2R SF 2R A A 0 / 5 6-5
Moscow 1R 1R 1R QF F 2R SF F SF SF 0 / 10 17-10
Zurich A A 1R 2R 1R 2R 2R SF QF 2R 0 / 8 5-8
WTA Tour Championships A A A SF 1R 1R RR RR RR RR 0 / 7 3-14
Finals reached 0 0 0 1 2 1 3 5 2 3 1 N/A 18
Tournaments Won 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 2 1 N/A 7
Overall Win-Loss1 14-4 27-11 41-21 40-22 35-22 37-27 49-25 39-23 45-22 47-21 16-7 N/A 399-209
Year End Ranking 355 182 62 11 15 19 8 6 8 8 N/A N/A

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

1The "Overall Win-Loss" row includes Fed Cup matches, results from qualifying tournaments or matches, and Dementieva's record for the following years: 1-1 in 1995 and 8-3 in 1996.

2The "Career Win-Loss" column does not include qualifying tournaments or matches, except for the "Overall Win-Loss" row.

Other notable matches

  • 2001 Moscow quarterfinal: defeated a World No. 1 player, Martina Hingis, for the first time in her career 6-2, 6-2.
  • 2003 Paris semifinal: lost to Amelie Mauresmo 6-0, 6-0 for the only double bagel defeat of her career.
  • 2004 French Open final: lost to Anastasia Myskina 6-1, 6-2 in her first Grand Slam final. Dementieva cried out, "I hate my serve!" to her mother during the match.
  • 2005 Wimbledon fourth round: lost to Myskina for the fourth consecutive time 1-6, 7-6(9), 7-5 after being up 6-1, 3-0, serving for the match at 6-5 in the second set, and with a match point in the second set tiebreak.
  • 2005 U.S. Open quarterfinal: defeated World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (5). It was the fourth time since the 2004 U.S. Open that she had won a match 7-6 in the third set and fifth time since the 2000 U.S. Open.
  • 2005 Filderstadt quarterfinal: defeated Kim Clijsters 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 for the second time in nine meetings, halting her 21-match winning streak. Dementieva declared in the on-court interview following the match that it was the best match she had ever played.
  • 2006 Tokyo final: defeated Hingis 6-2, 6-0 in 59 minutes to claim her first title since Hasselt in October 2004 and first Tier I title. Dementieva said after the match that she played well only one day a week. Otherwise, she would already be the top ranked player.
  • 2006 Indian Wells semifinal: defeated Justine Henin for the second time in nine meetings, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. Dementieva recovered from a 2-6, 2-5 defecit and Henin's twice serving for the match. This was Dementieva's first top 10 win of the year.
  • 2006 Los Angeles final: defeated Jelena Janković 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. After being up 5-0 against a visibly fatigued opponent in the third set, Dementieva failed to close out the match on serve twice, breaking for the victory after Janković won four straight games.

Fed Cup

Dementieva is the most successful Russian Fed Cup player. As of April 29, 2007, she is 19-5 in singles and 3-3 in doubles.

1999:

Semifinal v. Slovakia

Final v. USA

2001:

Quarterfinal v. Slovakia

  • Singles: Dementieva defeated Hantuchova 6-2, 7-6(6)
  • Singles: Dementieva defeated Henrieta Nagyova 6-3, 7-6(7)

World Group A - Round Robin v. Czech Republic

World Group A - Round Robin v. Argentina

World Group A - Round Robin v. France

Final v. Belgium

2002:

First Round v. Germany

Qualifying Round - 1st Round v. China

2003:

First Round v. Croatia

Quarterfinal v. Slovenia

2005:

Quarterfinal v. Italy

Semifinal v. USA

  • Singles: Dementieva defeated Mashona Washington 6-4, 6-3
  • Singles: Dementieva lost to Venus Williams 6-1, 6-2

Final v. France

  • Singles: Dementieva defeated Mary Pierce 7-6(1), 2-6, 6-1
  • Singles: Dementieva defeated Mauresmo 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
  • Doubles: Dementieva/Dinara Safina def. Pierce/Mauresmo 6-4, 1-6, 6-3

2006:

Quarterfinal v. Belgium

  • Singles: Dementieva defeated Clijsters 6-4, 6-3
  • Singles: Dementieva lost to Justine Henin 6-2, 6-0

Play-off - Quarterfinal v. Croatia

Trivia

Template:Top Ten Female Russian Tennis Players

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