Dementieva Wins Dubai Title
Elena Dementieva of Russia prevailed over her compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova in Dubai Championships to extend the nation’s winning record to four tournaments this season.
Although referred to the second category, Dubai Championships are favored by tennis celebrities mostly because of the generous prize fund of $1.5 million vs. the usual amount of $600,000. But until this year, Dementieva had been ignoring the tournament all money notwithstanding.
She was by far not the favorite of the event – Elena lost three of eight matches this season. But she beat Patti Schnyder, Alena Bondarenko, Ana Ivanovic and Francesca Schiavone to advance to the final. In the deciding standoff, Dementieva managed to come from a set down against Svetlana Kuznetsova, dominated in the second set despite that Kuznetsova broke 2-0 at the beginning and triumphed (4-6 6-3 6-2) for the ninth time in her career.
Having won in Dubai, Dementieva continued the victorious march of the Russians this season. Maria Sharapova won Australian Open and Doha tournament and Anna Chakvetadze was the best in Paris.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 03, 2008
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