Dementieva books semi-final place

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:38

The Olympic champion and tournament fourth seed won 6-2 6-2 to set-up a semi-final clash against Serena Williams or Victoria Azarenka.

Schiavone had been bidding to become the first Italian to reach the last four of a Wimbledon tournament.

But Dementieva easily won the opening game of the contest and followed that by breaking Schiavone’s serve to lead 2-0.

The Italian had a great chance to break straight back but squandered three opportunities and Dementieva made it 3-0 when Schiavone sent an attempted passing shot wide.

The Italian’s serve was not strong enough to trouble the power of Dementieva and found herself 4-0 down in just 14 minutes. Schiavone had another three break points in the next game and once again threw them away to allow Dementieva to go 5-0 ahead.

The Italian held serve for the first time in the match and followed that by breaking the Russian to reduce the arrears, but any hopes of a fightback were thwarted when Schiavone over-hit a cross-court volley from the Russian and Dementieva went on to take the set 6-2.

Schiavone made a better start to the second set – winning her serve to make it 1-1 but Dementieva was on top form and a superb angled forehand had the Italian scampering in vain to try and reach it.

An identical shot brought Dementieva another break of serve and a 4-1 lead. Schiavone still proved she had some fight left in the locker by holding serve, however Dementieva was unplayable on her own delivery and a 5-2 lead left Schiavone serving to save the match.

A poor return into the net left her opponent with two match points and an over-hit shot finally ended her participation in the tournament.

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