It’s Vera vs Venus

DOHA:

The 24-year-old now takes on seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams of the US in the Sony Ericsson Championships 2008 final in what will be the last match of the season. Venus, watched by her sister Serena and mother Oracene, edged past world number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the second semi-final of the night. In the first semi-final yesterday, Zvonareva won 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3 while in the last match of the night, Venus beat Jankovic 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

“I knew I had to play good tennis every single match,” Zvonareva said after her three-set battle. “I didn’t have any expectations. But I knew I can do it.” For Zvonareva, this has been the best week of her young career, thanks largely due to her victories over Jankovic, French Open champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and former US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetovsa of Russia in the last five days. Trailing 1-4 in the first set, Zvonareva woke up from her slumber by breaking her tall opponent two times – in games six and nine to force a tie-break.

Zvonareva produced two delicate volleys in the first three points before hitting three unforced errors soon afterwards. However, Zvonareva quickly arrested the slide by producing two winners to win the tie-breaker at 9-7.

Dementieva served for the first set twice, at 5-4 and 6-5, and she held a set point in the tie-break at 7-6 but still went down 7-9 due to unconvincing ground strokes lacking in power and precision. Zvonareva dropped her game in the second set – she was broken in games two and five – and then saw see the Beijing gold medallist square the match at one set apiece with relative ease.

With the prospect of a her major final only six games away, Zvonareva jumped to a 3-0 lead after breaking Dementieva in game two of the deciding set.

A mid-set slump from Zvonareva allowed Dementieva to reduce the gap at 3-4, but at 30-15 on her own serve, the tall Russian blew away the advantage by committing a backhand error, which cost her game eight. Serving for the set and match at 5-3, Zvonareva held her serve comfortably to reach her maiden season-ending championships final. Neither player had much success with their service games – there were no aces in the enitre match - as both were broken six times, but Dementieva was particularly poor with nine double faults, compared to only three from her opponent. Dementieva sounded despondent after the loss.

“I think it was all about me losing the opportunity, you know, to win the first set. You know, 5-2 leading, serving for the set, I had a set point after such a big fight in the tie-break. I had such a great chance to finish the set. Maybe then I could have finished (the match) in two sets.

But after losing the first set, it was really difficult to come back, stay focused and try to fight, because she started to play with a lot of confidence. It was just a tough match,” Dementieva said. “I didn’t want to lose. I mean, for the first time in my career I just feel sad that the season is over,” the Russian said.

After her tense match, Venus said: “The match was often intense and about fighting hard, but I was ready for that. I had to be very consistent at the right times.”

• SF - Audio Press Conference : Dementieva - Vera Zvonareva - Venus Williams
• SF Press Confence interview : Dementieva - Zvonareva - Jankovic - V. Williams