Dementieva Avenges Wimbledon Semifinal, Works Over Serena

With decidedly stoked fiance Maxim Afinogenov in the stands, Elena Dementieva overcame early shakiness to roll Serena Williams 7-6(2), 6-1, avenging her heartbreaking loss to Williams in the semifinals of Wimbledon just under two months ago.

With Serena's serve misfiring somewhat, Dementieva was able to equal or better the younger Williams in nearly every category.  Her angles and consistency off the ground left Serena with few answers.

Dementieva has made the semifinals of the US Open three times in the past five years, which is more than anyone and two more times than either Venus or Serena have.  She hasn't made a grand slam final in five years, but on current form alone she has to be considered one of the handful of players who can win the final grand slam of the year.

Dementieva will meet Maria Sharapova in the final, who made her first final of the year by defeating Alisa Kleybanova 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in a slugfest that featured impressively long rallies for two big, aggressive hitters with much maligned movement.  Sharapova leads the head to head with Dementieva 8-2 , but it's hard to see Dementieva losing this battle of the top Russian blondes. 

One thing is for sure about this Dementieva-Sharapova final : if you're a fan of the double fault, you'll enjoy the match thoroughly.