Dementieva cruises into 2nd round in Filderstadt

FILDERSTADT (Germany)—Fifth seed Elena Dementieva overpowered Czech Zuzana Ondraskova 6-2 6-4 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the $650,000 Filderstadt Grand Prix.
Russian Dementieva came out firing from the first ball, hitting several blistering returns, and she was rewarded with a break when qualifier Ondraskova made a forehand error. Dementieva’s aggressive game earned another break for a 3-0 lead but her tactic of hitting out at every ball also led to numerous unforced errors.
The two players struggled on serve, with Ondraskova failing to hold serve at all in the opening set.
The Czech staved off four break points to finally hold serve at the beginning of the second set and twice recovered a break after Dementieva had broken to lead 2-1 and 4-3.
But when the more experienced Russian broke yet again to lead 5-4, Ondraskova was unable to respond.
“I think it was a very good match,” Dementieva told reporters. “We were both playing very well, especially for the first round.
“There were some great rallies and I think the crowd really enjoyed the match”.
Dementieva recently won all three of her matches as Russia beat France in the Fed Cup final.
A notable omission from the line-up was world number one Maria Sharapova and Dementieva is disappointed the 2004 Wimbledon champion does not want to be part of Russia’s team.
“If she played it would make our team even stronger but I don’t think she has such a desire,” Dementieva said.
“She didn’t participate for two years. She was telling the captain she was going to play but she hasn’t. So I don’t think she wants to play. “She can make a big difference and we can have a very solid team with her as well”.
Australian Alicia Molik, who has scored only one win since going down with a virus in April, continued to struggle when she lost 6-3 6-3 to Nathalie Dechy of France.—Agencies