"...but I AM happy for her. I'm smiling. See?"Once again, Elena Dementieva got the best of Serena Williams in Sydney. Could it be a good sign for next week's Australian Open? Well, not exactly.
The Russian knocked the apparently injured top seed all around the court grabbing a convincing 6-3, 6-2 win ahead of the year's first major. Last season, after winning in Auckland a week earlier Elena crushed ReRe 6-3, 6-1 in the final four here and entered Oz as one of the faves to take the title. Unfortunately she get her arse spanked by the 11-time Grand Slammer 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals of Melbourne ending her hopes of a first major championship.
For her part, the world's top lady baller preferred to blame the loss not on the injury to her left knee but on her unforced errors...oh, and Elena's good play of course.
“I made about a thousand and two unforced errors … it’s better now than later, I guess. I was struggling a little bit, but, you know, I hate to make any excuse. I think she definitely deserves all the credit for what she did.”Classic. I wonder how severe this injury is to her surgically repaired knee, though. It's certainly not the way she wants to go into the defense of her title. Elena, however, has other things to worry about Down Under besides ReRe - like a possible showdown with Justine Henin in Round 2.
[Photo(s): GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty Images]
I just love that she follows up an excuse with "I hate to make any excuse." She's like my neighbour who insults you then says no offense. I love Serena and I hope her injury isn't grave but we all know that Serena's pre-major play gives no indication of how she'll actually play on the big stage.
ReplyDeleteDementieva/Henin is very intriguing but I'm definitely pulling for Justine.
I dont think serena was injured, but had a tweaked knee, and she has a great draw, I think radwanska??, will be a good test for her!!!
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