Beijing Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva has capped off her amazing start to 2009 by winning the women’s singles title at the Medibank International Sydney on Friday.
In the women’s final, which was a repeat of the Beijing gold medal match, third seed Dementieva defeated her countrywoman and second seed Dinara Safina 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
The twenty-seven year-old Russian also won the title in Auckland last week at the ASB Classic.
“It has been great. I think I was hoping for a good start, but I couldn’t imagine I’m going to win two titles,” Dementieva said about her new season.
After defeating top seed Serena Williams in the semifinals, Dementieva came into the final at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre brimming with confidence.
Dementieva dominated early on, grabbing two breaks of serve en route to the first set 6-3. Safina fired back in the second set, delighting the crowd around Ken Rosewall Arena with her trademark powerful ground strokes. Safina took the second set 6-2 to level the match.
But Dementieva’s experience and form proved too much for Safina as she raced away to claim the final set and the prestigious title, becoming the first Russian woman to win Sydney.
In the women’s doubles final Su-Wei Hsieh of Taipei and Shuai Peng of China defeated Australia’s Casey Dellacqua and Nathalie Dechy of France 6-0, 6-1.
