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Elena Dementieva Defeats Melanie Oudin To Move Russia Within One Win Of Final
By Sean Rudolph
Photo Credit: Andy Kentla
(April 25, 2010) Shut out in the second set after managing to hold serve just once through two sets, a dejected Elena Dementieva walked off the court to take a bathroom break with all the enthusiasm of a woman walking into a swamp while wearing ankle weights.
The sixth-ranked Russian flushed away her frustration then returned to court and fought her way past Melanie Oudin to move Russia to within one win of the Fed Cup final.
Getting a grip on a schizophrenic match in with both women played tight tennis, Dementieva won five of the final six games to subdue Oudin, 7-6(4), 0-6, 6-3 and give Russia a 2-1 lead over the host United States in the best-of-five match semifinal staged at the 5,500-seat 5,500-seat BJCC Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dementieva's serve deserted her, she couldn't locate her backhand down the line for long stretches of the match, but after spacing out in the second set she regained her focus, found her strokes and fought her way to a physically-demanding win.
"I just had so much fight at the end of the first set, I think I lost my concentration and I think Melanie she started to play so well in the second set," Dementieva told Tennis Channel's Corina Morariu immediately after the match. "I was just so happy to win in the end. It was such a physical game. There was so much pressure on both of us. I was just trying to fight. Maybe I was not playing my best, but I just tried to fight for every point."
American hopes now rest on Bethanie Mattek-Sands' shoulders.
The American No. 2 faces 5-foot-11-inch left-hander Ekaterina Makarova in the second reverse singles and must win to keep the USA alive.
Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev, who has a history of making astute substitutions, benched Alla Kudryavtseva, who fell to Oudin, 6-3, 6-3, in Saturday's opener, in favor of Makarova, who is making her Fed Cup singles debut.
Mattek-Sands and World No. 1 doubles player Liezel Huber are scheduled to face Dementieva and Makarova in the doubles match that concludes the best-of-five match semifinal.
The winner of this semifinal will host defending Fed Cup champion Italy in the November 6-7th Fed Fup final. Italy swept the Czech Republic, 5-0, on the red clay of Rome today.
There are no holds barred Fed Cup matches and then there was today's match in which holds were barred as tension tightened the serving arms of both women.
It was the third meeting between the pair and all three meetings have spanned three sets with Oudin winning in the US Open second round last September and Dementieva responding with a three-set triumph in the Paris Indoors semifinals in February.
Oudin took a 4-3 lead in the first-set tie breaker, but lost the next two points on serve.
Spraying a backhand, Oudin handed Dementieva set points at 6-4 and another backhand error sputtered wide as Dementieva won four straight points to collect the one hour, six-minute first set.
"It's difficult. You go on court and you realize you have to win this poi for your team," Dementieva said. "You realize it could be a key match for this semifinal. I was trying to be focused from beginning to end and just fight for every point."
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