Time for triumph #3 ?

By Pierre Cantin
Date: 6/10/2001

Jelena once again showed the world she was for real by winning another match in straight sets today, this time against Silvia Farina-Elia in the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup.

With a 6-4, 6-3 win a 1h10, Jelena reaches her second career Tier I final (you probably remember her first one in Rome don't you?!). Winning 6-4, 6-3 in the semis of such a big tournament would problably put you under the impression that Jelena played great tennis today. Well, she did play good tennis but when you only pass 39% of your serves it usually is much tougher. So then how did Jelena pull this off ?

In my opinion, this is where Jelena made the most impressive progress in 2001. Last year, Jelena played incredible matches against many top players and had showed the tour that she had the game to enter the top 10 soon. All she lacked was consistency. Today showed how much she had improved that exact aspect of her game because there is no way that Jelena would have won a match last year by serving this poorly. Not that she didn't have the game to do it but simply because she lacked the confidence and poise to pull these sorts of matches off and in the end, those are the matches that make the difference. Beating great players in semis and finals is great but the tougher part is to actually get there because you can assume you will not play your best tennis in the first few rounds so you must be able to win even when your game lets you down! Now don't get me wrong, Jelena did not play an awful match today, she was just not at her best and still won easily, that is what it's about! Jelena played very well on big points and was able to win the match in straight sets to rest a little before her final.

Her opponent there will not be as rested! Elena Dementieva not only had a harder tournament but also had to go three sets today to win over wild card Anastasia Myskina. And a few hours later, Elena is scheduled to play her doubles semifinal!

In their career matchups, Jelena has a 3-2 edge and even more importantly, has won the last two matches. After losing in the Olympic semifinals in 2000, Jelena was able to bounce back a few weeks later to beat Elena in an exhibition match and more importantly she won in New Heaven the week before the US Open 4-6, 7-5, 6-4! Let's hope things can go well, Jelena