Dementieva fends off a hard-charging Sugiyama to reach WTA final<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse
\nShanghai, China<\/p>\n
Top seed Elena Dementieva fought off a gutsy performance on
\nSaturday by Japan's Ai Sugiyama, beating the third seed 6-1, 3-6,
\n6-3 to reach the finals of the WTA Shanghai Polo Open here.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old Russian is now one match away from capturing
\nthe US$585,000 tournament, as well as a second straight title in
\nless than a week after downing Chanda Rubin in Bali, Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Dementieva will face Rubin in Sunday's final, a match she
\npredicts will not be easy despite having trounced the American 6-
\n2, 6-1 a week ago.<\/p>\n
\"It's difficult to play someone you just played and beat very
\neasily,\" Dementieva said.<\/p>\n
Rubin, the number two seed, reached the finals by besting the
\ntournament surprise Akiko Morigami of Japan, 6-0, 7-5, 6-3, in a
\nmatch where the American squandered chance after chance to put
\naway her fatigued and outclassed opponent.<\/p>\n
Dementieva outpowered her smaller but quicker opponent with
\ndeep and powerful ground strokes.<\/p>\n
After a first set riddled with mistakes that gave the Russian
\nan easy 6-1 victory, Sugiyama, 14th in the WTA rankings, stormed
\nback to a 5-2 lead in the second set. She eventually won the set
\n6-3.<\/p>\n
The 28-year old, who last year bowed out in the semifinals of
\nthis tournament to Russian Anna Kournikova, looked on the verge
\nof a comeback as she broke Dementieva in the third set to jump to
\na 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Unruffled, Dementieva won the next three games, trading points
\non long rallies that more often than not saw Sugiyama succumb to
\nunforced errors.<\/p>\n
\"I can't say there was any point where I felt I could win the
\nmatch. It was a very close match,\" said Dementieva.<\/p>\n
\"Only when it was love-40 on her serve did I feel a little
\nchance to win.\"<\/p>\n
Dementieva said she felt somewhat sluggish on the court after
\na late-night match on Friday.<\/p>\n
At one point, after missing an easy lob, Dementieva tossed her
\nracket away in disgust.<\/p>\n
But the soft spoken Russian, who has jumped to number eight in
\nthe WTA rankings since she won her first WTA event last April,
\nsaid she would never do that again.<\/p>\n
\"I still remember when I didn't have any rackets, or they were
\nmade of wood,\" she said, \"so I don't think I'll do that again.\"<\/p>",
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