Elena Dementieva recovers from injury and advances at Stanford Classics
It is always exciting for tennis fans to see one of their favourite players back in the game after an injury – especially when they are performing exceptionally well. As the game of tennis has become extremely competitive and exhausting it requires a lot of hard tiring work from the professional players due to which it is very common for players to suffer from all sorts of injuries.
The Russian professional tennis player Elena Dementieva has recently made a comeback after eight weeks of laying off the game due to an injury. The tennis star is currently participating at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, America, which is her first tournament since the French Open.
Elena Dementieva entered the French Open this year as the fifth seed. She hit it off at the tournament with a brilliant start as she upset Petra Martic of Croatia 6-1 6-1 in the first round. Her winning streak continued and she managed to book a place in the semi-finals, where she was scheduled to be up against the Italian 17th seed, Francesca Schiavone. However, the Russian had experienced a persistent pain in her left leg throughout the tournament, right after the second round. In the semi-final match, the pain became unbearable due to which she withdrew and handed the win to her opponent. She was diagnosed with a tear in her left calf muscle which had been aggravated by the stressful matches she had been playing.
The injury also resulted in Dementieva missing Wimbledon this year. This has been the first Grand Slam tournament the 28 year old player has not participated in for over ten years.
The Russian tennis star had a career high ranking of world number three, but due to her absence fell to the world number six. After a long recovery period, she has finally made her way back into the world of tennis at the Stanford Classics. The world number six is seeded number two in this tournament and is performing well.
In the second round of the event, Dementieva upset the Japanese player Kimiko Date Krumm 3-6 6-3 6-4. Even though Dementieva was up for a slow star she managed to catch up with her game and brought Krumm down. The Russian admits that at first she was finding it difficult to regain her form because she had been deprived of a professional competition for so long and was finding her opponent too fast. Lucky for her, she was able to up her skills as she was exposed to international tennis during the match.
The stunning tennis diva made her way to the quarterfinals of this tournament. If she is able to improve further as she continues playing, she might be able to make her way up to the finals and maybe even win this championship, for everyone knows that Dementieva has much more potential than she exhibited against the 39 year old Japanese player.
At the quarterfinals, Dementieva will be up against her fellow Russian, Maria Sharapova, who is seeded fifth in this tournament and has also recently made her way back onto the centre stage after a serious shoulder injury. Sharapova defeated her opponent Olga Govortsova in straight sets, 6-3 6-3, and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Audiences cannot wait to see these two Russian beauties battle each other in the quarterfinal round for a spot in the semi-finals - just the thought of this match has made Californian winds hotter.
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