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NEWS |
News Archive for 2003 |
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| Quarter-Finalist in Zurich 17th October 2003 In another creditable result for Elena, she reached the Quarter-Final of the Tier 1 Swisscom tournament in Zurich, Switzerland. She defeated former doubles partner Alicia Molik of Australia 6-1 6-4, and Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-4 6-3.
Elena was beaten in her Quarter-Final match by on-form fellow Russian Nadia Petrova, 1-6 4-6 ~ Elena Downs Davenport 11th October 2003 Elena beat Lindsay Davenport of the USA in an upset 6-3 6-2 victory to reach the Semi Finals of the Tier 2 Filderstadt tournament in Germany. In a repeat of the excellent form she produced throughout the tournament, Elena produced a convincing, straight-sets victory.
Davenport, who is due to have surgery for a swollen nerve in her left foot, said she found it difficult to get into the match against hard-hitting Elena. "She has a big game," said Davenport. "If she can be a little bit more consistent and not go for so much, she's very dangerous. I was trying to go for shots early in the rally and get on top, but it's hard to get a good hit off her first ball. She hits very hard and has a good serve." Elena's plan was to come out strongly and prevent Davenport dictating the match. "I started faster than she did and tried to stay on top," she said. "I tried to be aggressive and come to the net because if you give her a chance to play her game it's very hard since her balls are very deep and you can't do much off them." In the previous round, Elena
defeated Russian World No 9 player and Moscow Champion Anastasia
Myskina. Elena also had a solid win over Fabiola
Zuluaga of Colombia in the 1st Round of the
Filderstadt Tournament. She had a convincing straight
sets victory Elena was beaten by Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium in an exciting Semi-Final match 2-6 4-6 ~ Elena Defeats Top Seed Capriati in Moscow 1st October 2003 Elena has beaten the No 1 seed, and
former World No 1 player, Jennifer Capriati,
to reach the Quarter Finals of the Kremlin Cup
in Moscow. This is one of Elena's best career wins in a
gruelling up and down match. Elena came back from a set
down, and 3-5 down in the final set, to win 4-6 6-4
7-6(3) on the tiebreak.
"I played too nervously in the beginning," Elena said, after the match. "Later on I managed to become more solid and just fight for every ball up to the end." Match Report. Elena also scored a fine upset win over World 21st ranked Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in the First round of the Tier 1 Kremlin Cup Championship in Moscow. This Elena's first outing since the US Open. After losing serve in the first game of the match, Elena rapidly returned to form with good serving, (78% of 1st serves in), excellent returning and her hard-hit trademark groundstrokes and volleys, to dominate play over the 24 year old Swiss No 1. From being 2-4 down in the opening set, Elena lost only two more games in the match, to advance to the next round, 6-4 6-2. In the 2nd Round she faces a tough match with top seed, Jennifer Capriati. Unfortunately, Elena lost her Quarter-Final match against Anna Pistolesi (formerly Smashnova) of Israel. The score was 4-6 4-6. ~ Elena and Rennae Reach Doubles Quarters 5th September 2003
In Doubles, Elena, and Rennae Stubbs of Australia, reached the Quarter Finals of the US Open this week, beating Amanda Augustus and Karina Habsudova of the USA and Czech Republic, 6-1 6-2 in their First Round Match. The pairing went on to defeat Daja Bedanova (CZE) and Elena Tatarkova (UKR) 7-6(4) 6-1 in the Second Round. In the Third Round Elena and Rennae
scored a convincing victory over the hard-hitting pairing
of Mary Pierce (FRA) and Nadia
Petrova (RUS), the score 6-1 7-6(3). They then
went on to lose in the Quarter-Final to the2nd Seeded
team of Virginia Ruano Pascual
of Spain and Paola Suarez of Argentina,
3-6 6-7(4) Elena Ousted in New York 27th August 2003
In a major disappointment, Elena has been upset in the First Round of the US Open Tennis Championship at Flushing Meadows, New York. Elena was beaten by Ludmilla Cervanova of Slovakia in a tense three setter, 6-4 6-7(3) 4-6. Elena served for the match at 6-4 5-3 up in the second set, but was broken. She was two points away from the match in the next game, at 5-4 up on Cervanova's serve, but her Slovak opponent managed to hold her off. Cervanova then took the tie break convincingly. She remained dominant in the final set, leading 1-4 until Elena broke back to make it 4-5. However Elena then lost serve, and was out of the US Open. Elena was seeded 16, and reached the Quarter Finals of the US Open last year. This loss, so early in the tournament, will mean that she loses a lot of ranking points. ~ Close Match with Capriati 20th August 2003 Elena was drawn against former World No 1 player, Jennifer Capriati of the USA in the second round of the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament in New Haven Connecticut. Elena had beaten leading Australian and former doubles partner, Alicia Molik in the first round 6-3 7-6(4). In her second round match against Capriati, Elena won the first set 6-4, but lost the next two closely, 5-7 and 4-6. Elena performed extremely well in this over two-hour-long match, and won accolades for going toe-to-toe with the powerful Top-Ten player. Jennifer was playing extremely well in this match, and went on to win the tournament with a straight-sets victory over Lindsay Davenport. ~ Quarter Finalist in Canadian Open 15th August 2003 Elena upset eighth seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, in a comprehensive 6-2 6-1 victory, to reach the Quarter Finals of the AT&T Classic, aTier 1 Tournament, in Toronto Canada. On the way to her Quarter Final placing, Elena also defeated Maria Sanchez-Lorenzo of Spain 6-2 6-4, and Cara Black of Zimbabwe, 6-3 6-2, in two more straight sets victories. In her quarter final match with 2nd seed Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, Elena lost the first set 2-6. In the second set, she hit back with some superb serving and shotmaking, forging her way to a 3-0 lead. However the French Open Champion fought back hard as Elena missed key shots on break point, eventually taking the match 2-6 4-6. "If you have a chance against her, you've got to take it," said Bovina. "Otherwise, she starts to play more and more aggressive and in no time, you can't even control it. She's back in the match and it's 3-all and you're fighting to win your serve." "She's not going to give you any presents." ~ Doubles Finalist in Los Angeles 11th August 2003 Elena partnered tall Belgian player Els Callens for the JP Morgan Chase Championships in Los Angeles. The pair reached the Doubles Finals, beating first Janette HUSAROVA and Conchita MARTINEZ 7-5 6-4, then in the Quarterfinal they beat Janet LEE and Meilen TU 7-5 6-3. In the semi-Final they met the experienced 2nd seeded teaming of Cara BLACK and Elena LIKHOVTSEVA, defeating them in a 3-6 6-4 6-2 three-setter. In the Final they were defeated 3-6 3-6 by Mary PIERCE and Rennae STUBBS. Elena did less well in the singles competition, losing her second round match to Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-2 5-7 5-7 ~ Fed Cup Win for Elena 20th July 2003
Elena, a late replacement
in singles for Anastasia Myskina, became the Russian hero
at the Fed Cup Semi-final tie in Portoroz when she
delivered the third and deciding point for her country by
beating Slovenia’s top player Katarina
Srebotnik 7-6(4) 6-2. Wimbledon Doubles Success Elena played in the Mixed Doubles tournament at Wimbledon this year. Her partner was Scott Humphries of the USA. The scratch pairing reached the Quarterfinals before losing to Andy Ram of Israel and fellow Russian Anastassia Rodionova, 6-7 6-3 3-6 On the way to the Quarters, Elena and Scott beat Anthony Ross and Amanda Augustus of the USA, 6-0 6-3. They then had a walkover victory over 11th seeds, Czech, Cyril Suk and Maja Matevzic of Slovakia. This was followed by a Third Round victory over 6th seeds Wayne and Cara Black of Zimbabwe, 7-5 7-6(5) ~ Second Round Disappointment at Wimbledon 25th June 2003 Elena was seeded at 21 for the Singles Chamionships at Wimbledon, and she beat Saori Obata of Japan 7-6 2-6 8-6 in the First Round of the London Grand Slam Tournament. However in her 2nd Round match, Elena was beaten convincingly by 16-year-old fellow Russian, and fellow Bollettieri-school graduate, Maria Sharapova, the score, 3-6 1-6. Sharapova played a dominating, hard-hitting game, and had been given a wild-card into Wimbledon following her outstanding showing in recent tournaments.
Bad News in Birmingham 11th June 2003 In another early exit for Elena, this time on the grass of Edgbaston, Birmingham, Elena was beaten in her first match by Shinobu Asagoe of Japan. The score 3-6 3-6. This will come as a blow to Elena's Wimbledon preparations. ~ Bovina and Molik reach RG Quarter Final 4th June 2003 Elena and Alicia
Molik reached the Quarter-Finals
of the French Open tournament thanks to a walk-over win
over 3rd Seeds Davenport and Raymond.
In the Quarters, Elena and Alicia lost to 9th Seeds, Hantuchova
and Rubin 3-6 1-6 Another Early Exit for Elena 29th May 2003 Elena fell today to
experienced Italian Rita Grande 5-7 3-6
in the Second Round of the French Open at
Roland Garros. Elena had a lacklustre day,
dropping 57 unforced errors over the two sets, and
serving poorly. She was seeded 20. In better news,
Elena and Alicia Molik of
Australia have now reached the Third
Round of the Doubles tournament, beating Asagoe
and Miyagi of Japan 6-3 6-4 Elena Teams with Molik for Doubles 26th May 2003 Elena will be teaming up
with Australian Ace Queen, Alicia Molik
to challenge for the Women's Doubles title at the French
Open ~ Strasburg Defeat 25th May 2003 Elena was upset in the First Round of the Strasburg tournament by Maja Matevzic of Slovenia, 3-6 4-6. Elena was returning from an enforced illness break. ~ Illness Forces Warsaw Withdrawal 28th April 2003 Elena was scheduled to play at the tournament in Warsaw this week, but has been forced to pull out due to an infection. She is also unlikely to play at the German Open in Berlin. This means that she is unable to defend the points she won in Poland last year. Elena narrowly missed rising to a career high of No 15 last week, when fellow Russian, Elena Dementieva had her first WTA tournament win at Amelia Island and overtook her in the rankings. ~ Bovina Bounced out of NASDAQ-100 23rd March 2003 Elena crashed out of the Tier 1, NASDAQ-100 tournament in Miami Florida in an early-round defeat to hard-serving Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekhistan, 6-4 7-5. The defeat was an upset for the lower-ranked Tulyaganova, who fought back strongly after being down 2-5 in the second set.
Bad news for Elena in doubles too. Together with partner, Rennae Stubbs. The pairing fell 7-5 2-6 4-6 to American Samantha Reeves and Milagros Sequerra of Venezuela. ~ Elena reaches 4th Round at Indian Wells 14th March 2003 Elena fell to
Lindsay Davenport of the USA 6-4 6-3 in
her 4th Round match at the Tier 1 Pacific Life
Tournament at Indian Wells.
Elena's fortunes turned after she took an early 4-2 lead,
and was serving for 5-3, Elena was broken by the World No
7, losing in two sets. In Doubles, Elena again
teamed up with Rennae Stubbs of
Australia. ~ Loss to Schiavone at Scottsdale. 25th February 2003 Seventh-seeded Elena lost to Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-1 6-4 in the first round of the $585,000 State Farm Women's Tennis Classic at Scottsdale Arizona. It was Schiavone's first victory over the Russian teenager in four meetings. "I'm obviously disappointed to lose in the first round, but I think I just made too many unforced errors," Elena said. ~ Doubles Victory in Japan! 2nd February 2003
Elena gained her first
doubles title of the year, and her third career doubles
title today at the Toray Pan Pacific Open
Tournament in Japan. In the singles, Elena won
her first round meeting with Anna Pistolesi
(formerly Smashnova) of Israel, 6-2 3-6 6-3. ~ Elena Breaks into the Top Twenty! 29th January 2003
Elena has broken into the elite WTA World Top Twenty for the first time, continuing her meteoric rise through the rankings over the past year. As of this week Elena is now No 17 ranked player in the world, with a total of 1,442 WTA Singles Ranking points. Elena also made it into the Top twenty Doubles rankings at No 20! Congratulations Elena, and good luck! ~ Elena Battles her
way to 4th Round 26th January 2003
In another excellent result for the now 23-Ranked Elena, she fought her way through to the fourth Round of the Australian Open Tennis Tournament in Melbourne, Australia with easy victories over fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-1, and the experienced Rita Grande of Italy, 6-1 6-2. In the third round, Elena met 14 Ranked Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, coming out on top in a closely-fought match, 7-5 4-6 7-5. Elena's Fourth Round
opponent was tall American, Meghann Shaughnessy,
a former top-twenty player who is coming back to form. ~ Elena Fells Russian No 1 in Sydney 12th January 2003 Elena beat Russian No 1 Player Anastasia Myskina, ranked 12 in the world, in the first round of the Tier 2 tournament in Sydney Australia. The score was 6-3 7-5. Unfortunately Elena fell to Olga Babaranshikova in the 2nd Round. ~ Semi-Finalist at Gold Coast 5th January 2003 Elena reached the Semi-Finals of the prestigious Gold Coast Tournament in Australia this week, beating fellow Russians, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova, and following this by a win over Tathiana Garbin of Italy, before falling in the Semi in three tight sets to Nathalie Dechy of France. Another excellent performance. ~ Elena beats Venus Williams 12th December 2002 Elena scored one of her greatest ever victories by beating World No 2, Venus Williams in the first, Europe versus USA, Collins Exhibition Tournament in Dublin 3-6 6-4 7-5. Elena became the only European player in the tournament to win a match over an American player. Unfortunately, since this was an unofficial Exhibition Tournament, the win will not count for head-to-head records of for WTA ranking points. |
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