Dementieva at last ! - 18e Open GDF SUEZ - 2010 - Tennis Féminin

Both Lucie Safarova and Elena Dementieva had already experienced the special feeling of playing the last and most anticipated match of the tournament, having reached the final of the Open GDF SUEZ once each, respectively in 2007 and 2009. But that was about all the two players had in common as the Russian number one seed, 28 and ranked 7th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was already chasing her second title of the season after a win in Sydney, her 15th career title, while her Czech opponent, ranked 46th, had had a much more difficult start this year and an overall less impressive status.

Yet Lucie Safarova started the match with a bang, her heavy serve and aggressive baseline game helping her take a 3-0 lead. But the most experienced athlete then regained her composure and quickly came back to 3-3, as if all she had needed was just a little bit more time to warm up. After 25 minutes, both players were ready to clash, play their best shots and show great tennis to the enthusiastic Coubertin stadium crowd who had already chosen its favorite player: Francophile and French-speaking Elena Dementieva. On court, no one could prevail as both players were responding to each other with solid groundstrokes that took them to a tie-break. But Safarova's very deep shots eventually made the difference and, even though Dementieva saved a set point in one of the most impressive rallies of the week, the Czech won the tie-break (7-5).

For the third time in the tournament, Elena Dementieva had seen the underdog take the first set from her and by now, she was familiar with the feeling of trailing behind and the need to take more initiatives. And that's exactly what she did. Her great athleticism helping, she put more pressure on her opponent whose defensive shots, as a result, became a little less accurate. After an amazing winning passing-shot, Dementieva took a 4-1 advantage after 1h14. Her opponent was not as lucid and made some wrong tactical choices, such as a few dropshots that were clearly uncalled for, which cost her the set, claimed by Dementieva 6-1.

In the last set, the youngest of the two players, whose right thigh had been preventively taped since the semi-final, failed to move around as smoothly as she had before but made up for it with newfound accuracy in the choice and execution of her shots. But that did not seem to disturb Dementieva's momentum and regularity. In the seventh game, the Russian hit two incredible winners and broke Safarova to move ahead and serve at 4-3. Putting her old weaknesses aside, she could count on her serve efficiency (8 aces in the match) as well as her defense shots and got herself two match points that Safarova bravely saved on the next game at 5-3. But the Russian was unstoppable and she closed the match 6-4 on her fourth match point, an unforced error by Safarova, in 2h17.