Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva (born 15 October 1981) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has won two medals in singles, including the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She has also reached the finals of two Grand Slam events. Her career high ranking was World No. 3 which she achieved on April 6, 2009. As of 22 March 2010, her ranking is World No.6.
Dementieva was born in Moscow to Viatcheslav, an electrical engineer, and Vera, a teacher, both recreational tennis players. She was rejected by Dynamo Sports Club and the Central Red Army Tennis Club at the age of 7, before enrolling at Spartak Tennis Club, where she was coached for 3 years by Rauza Islanova, the mother of Marat Safin and Dinara Safina. She then moved to the Central Red Army Club with Sergei Pashkov, when she was 11. She is now coached by her mother Vera and her older brother Vsevolod. She has homes in Monaco, Moscow and Boca Raton, Florida, and enjoys snowboarding, baseball, reading and traveling. Dementieva played and won her first international tournament, Les Petit As, in France at the age of 13. In 1997, she entered the WTA top 500. She turned professional in 1998 and entered the top 100 in 1999.
Dementieva's breakthrough year was 2004. In Miami, she defeated Venus Williams in the quarterfinals and Nadia Petrova in the semifinals.
In 2005, Dementieva reached six semifinals, the most important being at the US Open. She also reached the final in Charleston, losing to Justine Henin, and Philadelphia, losing to Amélie Mauresmo despite serving for the match at 5–4 in the third set. In the quarterfinals of the US Open, Dementieva defeated top ranked Lindsay Davenport 6–1, 3–6, 7–6(6) for her second.
Dinara Mikhailovna Safina (born April 27, 1986 in Moscow) is a Russian professional tennis player. Currently Safina is ranked world number 3. She has been in three Grand Slam singles finals and won the women's doubles title at the 2007 US Open with Nathalie Dechy. She also won the Olympic silver medal in women's singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Her most recent achievement is runner-up in the 2009 French Open.
She is the younger sister of former World No. 1 men's player Marat Safin. She and her brother is the first brother-sister tandem in tennis history to both achieve #1 ranking. Safina made her debut in the main draw of a WTA Tour tournament in May 2002, on clay at Estoril, where she lost in the semifinals. She won her first title of her career in Sopot, defeating two seeds – including World No. 24 - en route to the final, which she won when opponent Henrieta Nagyová retired during the second set.
Safina continued to climb the rankings in 2005. At the Australian Open, she lost in the second round to Amélie Mauresmo. However, she defeated Mauresmo in the final in Paris three weeks later, in order to win the third title of her career. This marked her first win over a player ranked in the top 5. Following her win, Safina remarked: "You can't imagine how happy I am. I can't find words to explain how I feel right now. It's by far the best day of my career. I played well, took my chances and beat a Top 5 player. It's just too much in one day.
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