Zurich Open: Srebotnik defeats Dementieva

ZURICH: Fourth seed Elena Dementieva lost 6-1 6-4 to unseeded Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia in the Zurich Open on Thursday.   

Dementieva had beaten Srebotnik six times in six meetings before Thursday, although the last three had ended in tightly-contested third sets.   

Their most recent match came in Stuttgart two weeks ago, when Dementieva collapsed with leg cramps before winning the three-hour battle. The Russian was affected so badly, however, that she was unable to play her next match two days later.   

Fears of another marathon were obviously on her mind and Dementieva said she had not wanted to get drawn into long rallies.   

"I think I didn't have enough patience today," Dementieva said.

"I was going for the winners. I didn't want to play long rallies and I made too many mistakes. She was playing good. She was putting a lot of pressure on with her serve and I just didn't take my chances and I couldn't break her. There was nothing I could do today," she said.   

Dementieva broke in the opening game but failed to hold serve even once in the first set. She had several opportunities to turn the match around in the second set, holding seven break points before Srebotnik held for 1-1, then finally breaking for 3-1 but dropping her own serve in the next game.   

Dementieva then netted a double-handed backhand to concede her serve again at 4-4.