Jelena survives scare in Moscow

By Pierre Cantin
Date: 2/10/2001

Tough match for Jelena who faced local favourite Lina Krasnoroutskaya in the first round of the Kremlin Cup played in Moscow, Russia.

Wow! Many of us expected a tough match for Jelena but never this tough. The match started off on a good note for Jelena who was leading throughout the first set and ran to a 6-3 lead in 26 minutes.

When she started the second set leading, many feared that a Daniela Hantuchova type of match might repeat itself and Jelena certainly got us all nervous when she lost the second set 7-5, a shocker to everyone as suddenly Lina was taking control of many points and Jelena making more unforced errors, a 42 minute second set.

But, releif came as Jelena took an early 2-0 lead in the third set, setting the tone for an easy final set but that is not what happened. Lina continued to fight, getting many balls back and making Jelena hit that extra shot that made the difference. And with that came a 5-4 lead for Lina! But fortunatly, although only one year older that her opponent, Jelena has much more experience and that is probably what made the difference as Jelena was able to play her best game in the final points to win 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 in nearly two hours.

Next up for Jelena is probably Russian Anna Kournikova who is up against Galina Fokina. With a 2-0 life record against Anna, Jelena has to be very confident especially since Anna has been out most of the 2001 season and is far from her best game. But she will still need to be careful as Anna showed she could play very well at home making the final last year in Moscow.