Dementieva Makes Most of First Cup Appearance
9/01/2010
By Chris Pike
RUSSIAN world No. 5 Elena Dementieva enjoyed her first trip to Perth despite falling short of the Final of Hyundai Hopman Cup XXII, but one memory will stand out for the 28-year-old.
Dementieva lost her opening singles match to Germany’s Sabine Lisicki, but hit back by beating Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova and Great Britain’s Laura Robson to get the matches under her belt she was after in Perth.
She teamed with world No. 35 Igor Andreev, but the 26-year-old struggled after winning his opening match against Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber. The Russian team also lost two of its three mixed doubles encounters.
Coming into Friday’s Session, Russia was still a chance of making the Final after Dementieva beat Robson, but their challenge ended when Andreev was dominated by Andy Murray. It was Murray that gave Dementieva her lasting memory when she aced him in the mixed doubles though.
“Well I was pretty sure we didn’t have much chances, but we were trying to be competitive and to enjoy this beautiful atmosphere here in Perth,” Dementieva said.
“What a chance to play against Andy Murray and that was lots of fun. I had one ace against him too, so life is good.”
Dementieva might be playing in her first Cup, but she has long been a fan of the tournament and has watched on as her compatriots Anastasia Myskina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Dinara Safina have played in Perth.
“We all had some good matches here in the singles and in the doubles mixed as well, so it’s good for your confidence to play relaxed but also for real,” she said.
“It’s going to be a good preparation for all of us. I feel that I had a very slow start in my first match and then I just improved day after day here, and finally played a little bit better.”
Dementieva is under no illusions that her serve will never be her strength and it was costly in her loss to Lisicki when she served 10 double faults, but she is working on it all the time.
“I’m going to struggle all my life (with the serve). I’m trying every time and actually every day. You wouldn’t believe me and that’s why it’s not so consistent because I’m trying a lot,” he said.
“It’s not quite there and I still need to do some work on it.”
Dementieva is now looking forward to heading to Sydney next week and then to have a crack at her first Grand Slam win at the Australian Open.
“Next week I will be playing in Sydney so I hope to have some good matches there to get my confidence for Melbourne I’m sure it’s going to be a tough draw in Sydney, everyone seems like they are going to be playing so I will have some tough matches against good players. That will only help me.
“We’ve all done the hard work already, it’s all about just playing points, matches and to feel the game. Maybe also try something new at the beginning of this season.”
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