Elena Vyacheslavovna Dementieva (pronounced: L-e-nuh de-MENT-ye-vuh Russian: ); born October 15, 1981, Moscow), is a professional tennis player from Russia.

Dementieva played and won her first international tournament, Les Petit As, in France at the age of 13. In 1997, she entered the WTA top 500. She turned professional in 1998 and entered the top 100 in 1999.

In 1999, Dementieva represented Russia in the Fed Cup final against the United States, scoring Russia's only point when she upset Venus Williams 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(5), recovering from a 4-1 third set deficit. She played her first Grand Slam main draws, qualifying for the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon and receiving a direct entry into the U.S. Open. She reached the second round at the Australian Open and French Open, made a first round exit at Wimbledon, and reached the third round of the U.S. Open.

In 2000, she entered the top 20 by winning more than 40 singles matches for the second straight year and earned more than U.S. $600,000. She became the first woman from Russia to reach the U.S. Open semifinals, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Dementieva won the silver medal, losing to Venus Williams in the gold medal match 6-2, 6-4. In 2000, Dementieva was named the WTA tour's Most Improved Player.

2001 was the second straight year in which Dementieva finished in the WTA's top 20. During the year, she became the top ranked Russian player, a position previously held by Anna Kournikova since December 1997. Dementieva, however, suffered a shoulder injury in Australia. To keep playing matches, she altered her serve, adding slice and changing her motion. After her shoulder healed, her service motion stayed the same, and many consider it the worst serve among the top players. She has double faulted as many as 19 times in a match and hit 50 mph first and second serves. Where the ball toss should be in the "1 o'clock position" (if a clock was placed above the server's head, the ball should be tossed where 1 o'clock was) she was tossing them at 2 o'clock.

In 2002, Dementieva and her partner Janette Husarova of Slovakia reached the final of the U.S. Open and won the year-ending WTA Tour Championships. In singles, Dementieva defeated a top ranked player for the first time, beating world No. 1 Martina Hingis 6-2, 6-2 in a quarterfinal in Moscow. Dementieva reached the final of that tournament, losing to Jelena Dokic.

In 2003, Dementieva played the most tournaments among top ten players (27) and won approximately U.S. $900,000 in prize money. At Amelia Island, she won her first WTA tour title, defeating Amanda Coetzer, Daniela Hantuchová, Justine Henin, and second ranked Lindsay Davenport. Dementieva was the lowest seed (10th) to win the tournament in its 24-year history. She also won back-to-back titles in Bali and Shanghai, defeating Chanda Rubin in the final in both events. Dementieva finished 2003 in the top 10 for the first time (No. 8). In addition, she reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon doubles with her friend and compatriot Lina Krasnoroutskaya, beating the Venus and Serena Williams team along the way.

Dementieva's breakthrough year was 2004. In Miami, she defeated Venus Williams in the quarterfinals and Nadia Petrova in the semifinals. Dementieva then lost to the top seeded and two-time defending champion Serena Williams 6-1, 6-1. On April 5, she reached her highest singles ranking at sixth in the world. With fifth ranked Anastasia Myskina and ninth ranked Petrova, it was the first time that three Russians appeared in the Women's Tennis Association top 10 simultaneously.

In May at the French Open, Dementieva reached her first Grand Slam final, defeating former top ranked Lindsay Davenport in the fourth round, Amelie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals, and Paola Suarez in the semifinals, all in straight sets. Dementieva lost to compatriot Myskina in the first all-Russian Grand Slam final. (The last female Russian Grand Slam finalist was Dementieva's coach at the time, Olga Morozova, at 1974's French Open and Wimbledon.)

Later that year at the U.S. Open, after a first round loss at Wimbledon to Sandra Kleinova, Dementieva reached her second Grand Slam final, defeating Mauresmo and Jennifer Capriati en route. Countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Dementieva in straight sets in the final, becoming the third consecutive Russian Grand Slam winner. Following the U.S. Open, Dementieva won her first title in Hasselt and reached the Moscow finals for the second time, losing to Myskina.

In 2005, Dementieva reached six semifinals, the most important being at the U.S. Open. She also reached the final in Charleston, losing to Justine Henin, and Philadelphia, losing to Amelie Mauresmo despite serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set. In the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, Dementieva defeated top ranked Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(6) for her second victory over a current No. 1 player. In the semifinals, she lost to Mary Pierce 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. The momentum of the match with Pierce changed in Pierce's favor when, with Dementieva up a set, Pierce received 12 minutes of on-court medical treatment. Partnering Flavia Pennetta of Italy, Dementieva reached her second doubles final at the U.S. Open.

Following the U.S. Open, Dementieva helped Russia repeat as Fed Cup champions, beating France 3-2 in the final. All three points came from Dementieva, as she avenged her loss to Pierce at the U.S. Open, beat Mauresmo, and then won the deciding doubles match with partner Dinara Safina. At the WTA Tour Championships, Dementieva lost all three round robin matches against Mauresmo, Pierce, and Kim Clijsters with the same score each time: 6-2, 6-3.

After losing to Kim Clijsters in an exhibition in Hong Kong, she lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Julia Schruff. But immediately following that tournament, Dementieva won her first Tier I event, the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. On the run to the title, she defeated Katarina Srebotnik, Nicole Vaidišová, and Anastasia Myskina, all in three sets. She then defeated the resurgent Martina Hingis, with Hingis saying after the match, "If she played like that all the time, she'd win Grand Slams."

At the Pacific Life Open, despite double faulting 79 times in six matches, Dementieva reached the final. She defeated rising stars Sania Mirza, Ana Ivanović, and Na Li along the way. Dementieva then upset Justine Henin in a semifinal 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. The victory was her fourth three set match of the tournament, and fatigue contributed to her 6-1, 6-2 loss to Maria Sharapova in the final.

On grass, Dementieva reached the s'Hertogenbosch semifinals, losing to Michaella Krajicek despite holding a match point, and the Wimbledon quarterfinals. At Wimbledon, Dementieva lost to fourth seeded Sharapova 6-1, 6-4.

In August, Dementieva won the tournament in Los Angeles by defeating Jelena Janković in the final 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. En route to her sixth career title, she defeated everyone who had beaten (or, in the case of the U.S. Open, would beat) her at the 2006 Grand Slam tournaments—Schruff in the second round, Peer in the third round, Sharapova in a semifinal (for the first time since 2003), and Janković in the final.

At the 2006 U.S. Open, Dementieva reached the quarterfinals for the fourth time, losing to Janković 6-2, 6-1. The three games she won were all breaks of serve. Dementieva remarked afterwards, "Yeah, it is disappointing, you know. I'm getting older, and I haven't won a Grand Slam, so that's really what I'm thinking about all the time. I feel like I was in a good shape here. That's why it's sad." http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/interviews/2006-09-05/200609051157491850390.html. She relinquished to Sharapova, who won the tournament, the distinction of being the Russian player to have won the most career prize money.

Dementieva qualified for the year-ending WTA Tour Championships for the seventh straight time, the only active player to do so. She lost to all three players in her round robin group: Sharapova 6-1, 6-4; Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-3; and Clijsters 6-4, 6-0. Her career win-loss record at this tournament fell to 3-14. She had lost her last 9 matches played there.

Dementieva's first official tournament of the year was in Sydney, Australia, where she lost in the second round to Li Na 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 after being up 5-2 in the third set and holding five match points.

At the 2007 Australian Open, Dementieva matched her career best result at this tournament by reaching the fourth round, where she lost to Nicole Vaidišová 6-3, 6-3.

Dementieva unsuccessfully attempted to defend her singles title at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, losing her semifinal match to Martina Hingis 6-4, 6-3. Because of an injury, she could not participate in the tournament in Paris. Without having fully recovered, she played again in Antwerp but had to retire from her second round match against Elena Likhovtseva. She then travelled to Indian Wells, California to compete in the Pacific Life Open but withdrew from the tournament at short notice, causing her to lose a lot of points as she is the 2006 runner-up.

Dementieva returned to playing tennis in the Tier II Warsaw event, where she lost in the second round to Venus Williams. At the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Dementieva lost to Nadia Petrova in the third round 6-3, 6-3. At the Tier I Telecom Italia Masters Roma in Rome, Dementieva lost in the quarterfinals to Jelena Janković 6-2, 6-1.

In her final tune-up event to the French Open, Dementieva won the Istanbul Cup, defeating Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai in the final. This was her seventh career WTA tour singles title. At the French Open, Dementieva reached the third round before being defeated by Marion Bartoli.

At her first event on grass in Eastbourne, Dementieva lost easily in the quarters to eventual Wimbledon finalist Bartoli 6-1, 6-0 and she lost in the third round of Wimbledon to Tamira Paszek 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Her hardcourt season got off to a better start with Elena reaching the semifinals of San Diego (beating Bartoli en route), losing to Patty Schnyder 7-6, 6-0.

At the East West Bank Classic she lost to Sharapova 6-3, 6-4. At the Rogers Cup held in Toronto, she was a shock early casualty when she lost to Francesca Schiavone 6-7, 6-3, 6-2. Her last event before the U.S. Open was the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven. She beat Mara Santangelo, Ashley Harkleroad and Marion Bartoli en route to the semifinals, but retired in her match against Svetlana Kuznetsova, the eventual champion.

Her 2007 U.S. Open was cut short by Sybille Bammer in the third round, who handily beat her 6-1, 6-2. Prior to that she had beaten Stephanie Cohen-Aloro and Petra Cetkovská.

She then competed in the Tier II China Open in Beijing, China, losing in the quarterfinals to comeback kid Lindsay Davenport 7-6(1), 6-1. In the second round, she routed Austrian teen Tamira Paszek 6-2, 6-0, and thus avenging her Wimbledon third round loss.

Unseeded in Tier II Stuttgart, with a commentator remarking how many years has it been since she was unseeded in any tournament, Dementieva faced a tough draw, playing two-time Grand Slam champion Amelie Mauresmo, a match-up worthy of a Grand Slam final. However, Dementieva played well and beat the Frenchwoman 6-2, 7-5, then won her ninth match in 12 career meetings against eighth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals. She gave a fight but eventually lost 6-4, 6-4 to world No. 1 Justine Henin of Belgium. Her win against tenth-ranked Hantuchova, who had just arrived from a final appearance in Luxembourg, is her first Top 10 win of the season.

At her home tournament in Moscow, Dementieva won her first ever Kremlin Cup title after being runner-up twice in her career, and her second Tier I title. She made a bad start to her campaign against former world No. 8 Alicia Molik, winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, despite committing sixteen double faults. In the second round she ousted number seven seed Patty Schnyder to set up a match with Maria Sharapova's conqueror, Victoria Azarenka, which she won 7-6(4), 6-2 to advance to her fifth consecutive Kremlin Cup semifinal. There she thrashed Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0 and met Serena Williams in the final, someone who she had yet to take a set off in four meetings. However, after almost two hours of fight, Dementieva earned her first Kremlin Cup title and her first ever victory over Williams with a 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 win. It is her second Tier I title after winning Tokyo in January 2006 and allowed her to return to the world's top ten.

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or when the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the Zürich Open in Zürich, Switzerland, which ended on October 14, 2007.

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

¹San Diego was TI from 2004-2007.

²The "Overall Win-Loss" row includes main draw and Fed Cup wins and losses; results from qualifying and ITF, if included, equate to 424-220.

* 2001 Moscow quarterfinal: defeated a World No. 1 player, Martina Hingis, for the first time in her career 6-2, 6-2. * 2003 Paris semifinal: lost to Amelie Mauresmo 6-0, 6-0 for the only double bagel defeat of her career. * 2004 French Open final: lost to Anastasia Myskina 6-1, 6-2 in her first Grand Slam final. Dementieva cried out, "I hate my serve!" to her mother during the match. * 2005 Wimbledon fourth round: lost to Myskina for the fourth consecutive time 1-6, 7-6(9), 7-5 after being up 6-1, 3-0, serving for the match at 6-5 in the second set, and with a match point in the second set tiebreak. * 2005 U.S. Open quarterfinal: defeated World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (5). It was the fourth time since the 2004 U.S. Open that she had won a match 7-6 in the third set and fifth time since the 2000 U.S. Open. * 2005 Filderstadt quarterfinal: defeated Kim Clijsters 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 for the second time in nine meetings, halting her 21-match winning streak. Dementieva declared in the on-court interview following the match that it was the best match she had ever played. * 2006 Tokyo final: defeated Hingis 6-2, 6-0 in 59 minutes to claim her first title since Hasselt in October 2004 and first Tier I title. Dementieva said after the match that she played well only one day a week. Otherwise, she would already be the top ranked player. * 2006 Indian Wells semifinal: defeated Justine Henin for the second time in nine meetings, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. Dementieva recovered from a 2-6, 2-5 deficit and Henin's twice serving for the match. This was Dementieva's first top 10 win of the year. * 2006 Los Angeles final: defeated Jelena Janković 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. After being up 5-0 against a visibly fatigued opponent in the third set, Dementieva failed to close out the match on serve twice, breaking for the victory after Janković won four straight games. * 2007 Moscow final: defeated Serena Williams 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 for the first time in their five meetings, having previously never taken a set off her, to claim her second Tier I title and finally win her home tournament after finishing runner-up twice previously.

Dementieva is the most successful Russian Fed Cup player. As of April 29, 2007, she is 19-5 in singles and 3-3 in doubles.

*Enjoys skiing and chess. *Once had a large cactus collection. *Was voted the most stylish player on tour at the 2006 Zurich Open in an online poll.http://www.zurichopen.net/index.php?pn=polls_result&id=27 *Speaks fluent French and has named the French Open as her favorite Grand Slam event. *Is currently dating Buffalo Sabres winger Maxim Afinogenov http://eng.dementieva.ru/news/jankovic_eng.html

* *Official website * *Dementieva statistics * Elena Dementieva photos