Translated material
Beijing -- New York
The masters of the big racket moved from the Olympic Village to the US Open
Beijing Olympic gold medal winner Elena Dementieva had the honor of performing in the opening match of the last Grand Slam competition this season - the US Open in New York. Elena’s opponent in the match on the center court was the representative of Uzbekistan, Akgul Amanmuradova.The heroine of Beijing did not have an easy walk, but she still managed to prevail in two games - 6:4, 7:5. Elena converted three out of six breaks, and her opponent made 31 unforced errors, which is one and a half times more than the Russian woman. The next opponent of the newly-crowned Olympic champion and the most patriotic Russian tennis player is the Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier, who ranks 49th in the world classification.
The women's singles competition at the current US Open is being held without the participation of the champions of the last three seasons. Belgians Kim Clijsters (2005) and Justine Henin (2007) have already completed their sports careers, Russian Maria Sharapova (2006) is treating an injured shoulder, which is why she missed the Olympic Games. But in the ranks, all three medalists of the Beijing tournament, who made up the only purely Russian podium in Beijing, are Elena Dementieva, who has already reached the second round, who joined her after defeating the Czech Barbora Strykova (6:4, 6:3) summer bronze medalist Games Vera Zvonareva and silver winner Dinara Safina, who last night Moscow time (there is an eight-hour difference between the Russian capital and the largest city in the United States) met with American Christine Ahn.
Anna Chakvetadze won the right to compete at the Olympics, being in a high position in the ranking, but deliberately refused to participate in the Games, allegedly for the sake of better preparation for the US Open. Instead of Anna, Zvonareva performed in the singles tournament in the Celestial Empire, eventually rising to the podium and receiving great impressions from the unique festive atmosphere prevailing at the main sports forum of the four-year anniversary. What about Chakvetadze? She did not play in Beijing either, disappointing and unpleasantly surprising her personal fans with her decision, and at the US Open she stopped fighting after the first round match - the 1/64 finals. Anna, seeded tenth, failed to beat her 20-year-old compatriot Ekaterina Makarova - 6:1, 2:6, 3:6.
A native of Tambov, Anastasia Rodionova, according to the Women's Tennis Association database, is still listed as a Russian, but the organizers of some Grand Slam tournaments (January's Australian Open and the current US Open) are already recording her as an Australian citizen. Therefore, Anastasia’s match against Ekaterina Bychkova (1:6, 3:6) still does not qualify for the status of a Russian derby. The 2004 US Open triumphant Svetlana Kuznetsova confidently defeated the Chinese Shuai Zhang (6:4, 6:2), Maria Kirilenko lost to the Austrian Tamira Pashek - 3:6, 6:3, 4:6, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova achieved a difficult victory over the American Vaney King -- 6:2, 4:6, 6:2.
In the men's tournament, Evgeny Korolev beat the Swede Robin Soderling - 7:6 (7:4), 6:3, 7:6 (11:9), Teimuraz Gabashvili failed to cope with the Frenchman Michel Llodra - 3:6, 7:5 , 6:7 (5:7), 6:7 (4:7).