Svetlana Kuznetsova wins at Madrid, Sends Elena Dementieva 0-2
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Nov 8, 2006 | Print
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Svetlana Kuznetsova, making her debut at the season-ending Championships, won her first match in the red group with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Elena Dementieva.
Both women exchanged breaks early on, but Kuznetsova finally gained the advantage with a break at 5-3. She then tried serving out the set, but a double fault on break point gave Dementieva a chance to stay in the set. Kuznetsova struggled to reach 6-5, but finally grabbed her third break to take the opening set 7-5.
Kuznetsova took the first break of the second set for a 2-0 lead, and dominated throughout the second set to win her first Sony Ericsson Championship match 7-5, 6-3.
In all credit to Dementieva, she was playing much better than her first round match against Sharapova. She kept the double faults down to a minimum - just seven - and came out strong against Svetlana in the first set. But now that she has fallen into a 0-2 hole, with the prospect of facing Kim Clijsters next, her chances of reaching the semifinal for the first time in seven tries are all but over.
Kuznetsova played well against Dementieva, but the brilliance and confidence that we saw at Miami and in her run to the final at Roland Garros was missing. She was frustrated with her performance during the match, and her many unforced errors often overshadowed her winners. Unfortunately, this has been the same story for many of the top players at this year’s event so far, with only Nadia Petrova bringing her best tennis on court.
Still to Come:
Maria Sharapova vs. Kim Clijsters
Nadia Petrova vs. Martina Hingis
You can read On the Baseline’s preview of the action on day two here.
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