Dementieva Holds Off Mirza’s Upset Bid

Rain may have delayed the start of matches at the Acura Classic on Thursday, but the third-round match between Elena Dementieva of Russia and India’s Sania Mirza was well worth the wait as the Russian scored a thrilling 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory.

Playing before a packed Grandstand, Dementieva won the first five games of the opening set.

Behind 5-0, Mirza gave her fans something to cheer about as she staged a mini-rally by breaking Dementieva at love and holding her own serve to make the score 5-2.

The fourth-seeded Dementieva held serve in the next game to win the set.
 
After holding serve to open the second set, Mirza broke Dementieva in the second game for a 2-0 lead. 

Mirza maintained her momentum into the tenth game where she saved two break points.  One was courtesy of an unforced error by Dementieva and the second was a beautifully angled volley winner that bounced just out of the Russian's reach. 

Mirza then hit her second ace of the match, earning her the second set.

In a ragged third set which featured five service breaks Dementieva forged ahead to a 5-3 as she broke Mirza’s serve at love in the eighth game.

Dementieva, who hit a total of 10 double faults, went on to serve out the match to advance to the quarterfinals.

• Dementieva advances to the quarterfinals where she will meet the winner of the Paola Suarez / Patty Schnyder match.
• Dementieva now leads Mirza 3-0 in career head-to-head meetings.
• Dementieva is ranked 6th in the world.
• Dementieva improves her 2006 match record to 33-12.
• Dementieva is making her seventh career Acura Classic appearance. She reached the semifinals in 2004.
• Mirza was making her second career Acura Classic appearance. She reached the third round in 2005 as a qualifier.
• Mirza is ranked 44 in the world.
• Mirza’s 2006 match record is now 11-16.
• Mirza became the first Indian woman to reach the third round at the 2005 Australian Open.

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