All-Russian Final Set for Beijing Olympics
Published by Aaress Lawless on Aug 16, 2008 | Print |
The 2008 Olympic women’s singles final will be an All-Russian affair in Beijing on Sunday afternoon.
Two of Russia’s biggest stars, Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina, will compete for the Olympic gold and silver medals.
Dementieva, the runner-up and silver medalist at the Sydney Games in 2000, has longed for an opportunity to add the biggest sporting trophy to her collection of nine career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour titles.
An opportunity was denied her at the 2004 Games in Athens, where she lost in the first round to Australia’s Alicia Molik. Dementieva has also come up short in her Grand Slam pursuit with two difficult losses at the French Open and US Open in 2004 to her countrywomen Anastasia Myskina and Svetlana Kuznetsova, respectively. Again, Dementieva’s fate involves a tense meeting with one of her compatriots.
Dinara Safina has been the most consistent player on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour over the past several months, even reaching the French Open final in June. While the change has been clearly reflected in her performances and three new career titles, one of the biggest evidences of Safina’s improvement is her ranking. Over the past couple of weeks she has risen to three new career-highs, most notably her new ranking of No. 6 on last Monday.
Keys to Sunday’s Gold Medal Match:
Safina = Positive Outlook, Aggressive Service Returns, Keep Momentum From the Start
Dementieva = Perseverance, High First Serve Percentage
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