In a battle of the top blonde Russian screamers, it was the blonder, louder, and more Russian player who prevailed.

With fiance Maxim Afinogenov ecstatic in the stands, Elena Dementieva defeated Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-3 to win the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

While neither was especially consistent, both came up with some huge groundstrokes off both wings.  Dementieva's speed (a great example of which can be seen here) wound up being the difference over Sharapova's sometimes bovine agility, with the WTA #4 more often able to send enough balls back to draw the eventual error.

The win also secured Dementieva a spot at or near the top of the final US Open Series standings.  Dementieva will win the promotion (and double her prize money at the US Open).

And it should be a good deal of prize money, at that.  With her win Dementieva secures the #4 seed at the US Open, and the assurance that she will not run into a Williams sister before the semifinal.   The only player outside of those two who I believe can threaten Dementieva is Jelena Jankovic, who Dementieva bounced from the top four.  But the odds are Jankovic won't wind up in Dementieva's quarter, anyhow.

Sharapova also improved her US Open seeding by making the final, moving into the top thirty and assuring that she will be seeded in Flushing Meadows.  The seeding could wind up being a curse, however, as she is now going to be slated to face a top eight seed in the third round.  Let's hope it's Vera Zvonareva.

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.

I'm on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls for a few more hours, and I can smell the stink of the Toronto seeds' play from here.

Of the sixteen seeds in the fifty-six-player Toronto draw, only five have made the Round of 16.  Even worse, the top eight seeds had a bye to the second round.

Seeds have won less than half their matches against unseeded players in Toronto, compiling a record of 10-11 in their first and second round matches.

Here's a breakdown of how the sixteen have done, and which five are left standing.

1. Dinara Safina (Bye in first round, upset by Aravane Rezai in second round)
   
2. Serena Williams (Bye in first round, defeated Yaroslava Shvedova in second round)
3. Venus Williams (Bye in first round, upset by Kateryna Bondarenko in second round)
4. Elena Dementieva (Bye in first round, defeated Ai Sugiyama in second round)
5. Jelena Jankovic (Bye in first round, defeated Patty Schnyder in second round)
6. Svetlana Kuznetsova (Bye in first round, upset by Samantha Stosur in second round)
7. Vera Zvonareva (Bye in first round, defeated Roberta Vinci in second round)
8. Caroline Wozniacki (Bye in first round, upset by Zheng Jie in second round)
9. Victoria Azarenka (Defeated Shuai Peng in first round, upset by Kim Clijsters in second round)
   
10. Nadia Petrova (Upset by Maria Sharapova in first round)
    
11. Ana Ivanovic (Defeated Magdalena Rybarikova in first round, upset by Lucie Safarova in second round)
12. Flavia Pennetta (Defeated Maria Kirilenko in first round, upset by Virginie Razzano in second round)
13. Marion Bartoli (Upset by Alona Bondarenko in first round)
14. Agnieszka Radwanska (Defeated Carla Suarez Navarro in first round, defeated Agnes Szavay in second round)
    
15. Amelie Mauresmo (Upset by Francesca Schiavone in first round)
16. Dominika Cibulkova (Defeated Sara Errani in first round, upset by Alisa Kleybanova in second round)

What accounts for this massacre of the favorites? Depth in the women's game? Exhaustion from playing last week in Cincinnati? A ranking system that poorly reflects who the top players in the game are? Lack of focus on Toronto due to the looming US Open?

Or something else entirely?