Dementieva

Elena Dementieva refused to take credit for Russia's Fed Cup victory over France. Perhaps she should. The Russians won the title for the second straight year yesterday. Dementieva won both her singles matches in the best-of-five final and teamed with Dinara Safina to capture the deciding doubles for a 3-2 victory. The Russian duo beat Mary Pierce and Amelie Mauresmo, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. "It's not Dementieva's victory," Dementieva said. "We win as a team and lose as a team." In the day's singles matches, Pierce rallied past Anastasia Myskina, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, to even the series at 2-2. Dementieva defeated Mauresmo in the opener, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. "She carried the team this weekend," Mauresmo said.

NEW YORK - -It was a day of great joy for 17-year-old American Melanie Oudin. Despite a cramping strain in her left thigh, Oudin upset fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, Thursday in a second-round U.S. Open match. But it was also a day of great sadness for fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, a finalist here last year who became a second-round loser to Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6). Jankovic played despite learning that her grandmother had died Wednesday in Serbia. Jankovic's mother, Snezana, who is an animated presence at nearly all her daughter's matches, had left the tournament to return to Serbia, and Jankovic said playing the match was difficult.

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Serena Williams was the winner, coming back after being off the tour more than eight months with a knee injury and capturing the Nasdaq-100 Open title in a mortifying 50-minute final. But Elena Dementieva, whose wild serves were the butt of jokes during this 12-day tournament - she totaled 57 double faults, after all - was not the loser. The real loser was women's tennis, which took a terrible hit with several top players not entered because of injury or fatigue. That allowed sixth-ranked Williams to dance through the draw and crush No. 8 Dementieva, 6-1, 6-1, on a perfectly blue and perfectly boring afternoon yesterday.

Early in the the first set of the 23rd PNC Tennis Classic last night, the sport's megastar, Serena Williams, had a ball bounce off her head from a ricochet off the baseline wall. The world's No. 1 player flashed a smile after briefly feigning dizziness, and the fans laughed with her. It was that kind of night at 1st Mariner Arena, with Williams and her opponent, Elena Dementieva, putting on a polite exhibition for an adoring crowd that welcomed the opportunity to be in the presence of a superstar while at the same time contributing to a worthy cause.

Pam Shriver, who will stage her 23rd annual Charity Tennis Classic here Nov. 21, has been going through records with her staff, trying to determine whether there has ever been such a star-studded cast assembled for the main match at this event. "We've had players who have been top-five and better players," said Shriver, who will announce today that Olympic gold medalist and world No. 4 Elena Dementieva has agreed to play U.S. Open winner and world No. 1 Serena Williams in the 7 p.m. match at 1st Mariner Arena.

Early in the the first set of the 23rd PNC Tennis Classic last night, the sport's megastar, Serena Williams, had a ball bounce off her head from a ricochet off the baseline wall. The world's No. 1 player flashed a smile after briefly feigning dizziness, and the fans laughed with her. It was that kind of night at 1st Mariner Arena, with Williams and her opponent, Elena Dementieva, putting on a polite exhibition for an adoring crowd that welcomed the opportunity to be in the presence of a superstar while at the same time contributing to a worthy cause.

NEW YORK - Lindsay Davenport had played all summer without the pain in her knee or foot that had troubled her for nearly two years. Since Wimbledon, Davenport had been sound. Her ground strokes were flawless. Her serve had become a major plus, winning her easy points and making the game fun. Until yesterday, a day that belonged to the Russians, with two of their women advancing to the U.S. Open final for the first time - each defeating an American. For Davenport, a groin muscle that was stiff after practice Thursday was achy after warm-ups yesterday and became punishingly painful by the middle of her semifinal match against 19-year-old Svetlana Kuznetsova, a strong, athletic opponent.

PARIS - Midway through the second set of yesterday's ragged French Open final, after Elena Dementieva had winged her 63rd double fault of the tournament, she screamed so loudly that the words overpowered the groans of 14,000 on the Philippe Chatrier stadium court. "I hate my serve," she announced to the world in Russian, and well she should. She would strike four more before the end of this 6-1, 6-2 rout that took all of 58 minutes and which rewarded the slender Anastasia Myskina with the first Grand Slam title of her career.

NEW YORK - While she's still wearing braces, Svetlana Kuznetsova possesses a tennis game of massive power and mature shot making and now she is a champion. Kuznetsova, 19, became the first Russian woman to win the U.S. Open yesterday, an inevitable occurrence since her opponent, Elena Dementieva, is Russian, too. In control all the way, dictating points with a forehand that made the crowd go "Oooh," No. 9 seed Kuznetsova left sixth-seeded Dementieva without energy to fight by the end of the 6-3, 7-5 win. If these two unlikely finalists - each had taken out a higher-seeded American in the semifinals - didn't win over the 20,524 Arthur Ashe Stadium fans with tennis, they won them over after the match with their words.

In Beijing, Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva dueled in the Olympic women's singles quarterfinals with a gold medal at stake. Tomorrow at 1st Mariner Arena, Williams will once again be thundering blazing serves and Dementieva answering with wicked forehands. In China, Dementieva won that quarterfinals match and ultimately the gold medal, and Williams and her sister, Venus, won gold in women's doubles. When Williams and Dementieva play this time, though, the winners will be the young people served by the local charities that benefit from the proceeds of the PNC Tennis Classic, an annual charity event led by former Baltimore County resident and tennis pro Pam Shriver and presented by The Baltimore Sun. The Williams-Dementieva exhibition match is the centerpiece attraction of a tennis card that will also feature Orioles Adam Jones and Garrett Olson in a doubles match.

In Beijing, Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva dueled in the Olympic women's singles quarterfinals with a gold medal at stake. Tomorrow at 1st Mariner Arena, Williams will once again be thundering blazing serves and Dementieva answering with wicked forehands. In China, Dementieva won that quarterfinals match and ultimately the gold medal, and Williams and her sister, Venus, won gold in women's doubles. When Williams and Dementieva play this time, though, the winners will be the young people served by the local charities that benefit from the proceeds of the PNC Tennis Classic, an annual charity event led by former Baltimore County resident and tennis pro Pam Shriver and presented by The Baltimore Sun. The Williams-Dementieva exhibition match is the centerpiece attraction of a tennis card that will also feature Orioles Adam Jones and Garrett Olson in a doubles match.

Pam Shriver, who will stage her 23rd annual Charity Tennis Classic here Nov. 21, has been going through records with her staff, trying to determine whether there has ever been such a star-studded cast assembled for the main match at this event. "We've had players who have been top-five and better players," said Shriver, who will announce today that Olympic gold medalist and world No. 4 Elena Dementieva has agreed to play U.S. Open winner and world No. 1 Serena Williams in the 7 p.m. match at 1st Mariner Arena.

BEIJING - The world of tennis, as we know it, spun off its axis a bit here Thursday night in front of thousands of enthusiastic Chinese spectators. This is the Beijing Olympics, not Wimbledon or another Grand Slam tournament. No ivy-covered walls here, no red clay or echoes of Jimmy Connors under the lights in the Big Apple. The stadium here is a big, circular chunk of concrete. It has all the charm of a freeway ramp. Yet it might long be remembered for this night, when what was predictable and comfortable in the sport came unhinged.

Elena Dementieva refused to take credit for Russia's Fed Cup victory over France. Perhaps she should. The Russians won the title for the second straight year yesterday. Dementieva won both her singles matches in the best-of-five final and teamed with Dinara Safina to capture the deciding doubles for a 3-2 victory. The Russian duo beat Mary Pierce and Amelie Mauresmo, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. "It's not Dementieva's victory," Dementieva said. "We win as a team and lose as a team." In the day's singles matches, Pierce rallied past Anastasia Myskina, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, to even the series at 2-2. Dementieva defeated Mauresmo in the opener, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. "She carried the team this weekend," Mauresmo said.

NEW YORK - There were a few nasty remarks, a 12-minute injury timeout that somehow was legal, a record number of double-faults from Elena Dementieva - and then, in the second of two stirring women's semifinals at the U.S. Open, perhaps the gutsiest display by Maria Sharapova in her young career. Six mostly gripping sets and 4 hours and 17 minutes of contentious and courageous tennis after it began yesterday, Kim Clijsters of Belgium and Mary Pierce of France were through to the final. Any celebrating had to have been brief or nonexistent.

NEW YORK - While she's still wearing braces, Svetlana Kuznetsova possesses a tennis game of massive power and mature shot making and now she is a champion. Kuznetsova, 19, became the first Russian woman to win the U.S. Open yesterday, an inevitable occurrence since her opponent, Elena Dementieva, is Russian, too. In control all the way, dictating points with a forehand that made the crowd go "Oooh," No. 9 seed Kuznetsova left sixth-seeded Dementieva without energy to fight by the end of the 6-3, 7-5 win. If these two unlikely finalists - each had taken out a higher-seeded American in the semifinals - didn't win over the 20,524 Arthur Ashe Stadium fans with tennis, they won them over after the match with their words.

PARIS -- The 10 words poured forth from Jennifer Capriati's lips with a confounding lack of emotion. "I guess I was just flat today. But no problem." No problem, she said. It's just the semifinals of the French Open. What's the big deal? And Capriati, who knocked off Serena Williams in a dramatic quarterfinal match, said it with as little fire as she showed in yesterday's 6-2, 6-2 loss in 61 minutes that sent slender Anastasia Myskina into an all-Russian championship match against longtime friend Elena Dementieva.

BEIJING - The world of tennis, as we know it, spun off its axis a bit here Thursday night in front of thousands of enthusiastic Chinese spectators. This is the Beijing Olympics, not Wimbledon or another Grand Slam tournament. No ivy-covered walls here, no red clay or echoes of Jimmy Connors under the lights in the Big Apple. The stadium here is a big, circular chunk of concrete. It has all the charm of a freeway ramp. Yet it might long be remembered for this night, when what was predictable and comfortable in the sport came unhinged.

NEW YORK - Lindsay Davenport had played all summer without the pain in her knee or foot that had troubled her for nearly two years. Since Wimbledon, Davenport had been sound. Her ground strokes were flawless. Her serve had become a major plus, winning her easy points and making the game fun. Until yesterday, a day that belonged to the Russians, with two of their women advancing to the U.S. Open final for the first time - each defeating an American. For Davenport, a groin muscle that was stiff after practice Thursday was achy after warm-ups yesterday and became punishingly painful by the middle of her semifinal match against 19-year-old Svetlana Kuznetsova, a strong, athletic opponent.

PARIS - Midway through the second set of yesterday's ragged French Open final, after Elena Dementieva had winged her 63rd double fault of the tournament, she screamed so loudly that the words overpowered the groans of 14,000 on the Philippe Chatrier stadium court. "I hate my serve," she announced to the world in Russian, and well she should. She would strike four more before the end of this 6-1, 6-2 rout that took all of 58 minutes and which rewarded the slender Anastasia Myskina with the first Grand Slam title of her career.