Sports
Elena Dementieva (AFP Photo / Carl De Souza)
Safina and Dementieva reach semi-finals
Published 30 June, 2009, 19:15
Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva – the last remaining Russians at Wimbledon – have reached the final four stage.
For the top-ranked Safina this will be her first Wimbledon semifinal. On Tuesday, she came back from a set down to beat German teenager Sabine Lisicki 6-7, 6-4, 6-1.
The only previous match between the Russian and the German resulted in Safina’s losing. Perhaps because of that, the Russian looked shaky at the beginning. All-in-all, she double-faulted 15 times, including on set point in the tiebreaker. However, Dinara managed to break the 19-year-old Lisicki once in the second and four times in the decider. She converted her first match point when the German missed a backhand wide.
Safina will now meet five-time champion Venus Williams in the semi.
Another Russian, Elena Dementieva, faced much less opposition in her quarter-final against Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
Fourth-seeded Dementieva took a 5-0 lead in the first set and converted both of her break points in the second to seal the win 6-2, 6-1 in 66 minutes.
Dementieva will next play Serena Williams.
