Date:23/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/23/stories/2006042308321900.htm

Sport - Tennis

Dementieva puts Russia ahead

Jamea Jackson pulls off a shock win for the United States

LIEGE: Elena Dementieva had a surprise 6-4, 6-3 victory over World No. 2 Kim Clijsters on Saturday to give defending champion Russia a 1-0 lead over Belgium in the Fed Cup World Group first-round tie.

Dementieva, ranked ninth in the world, relied on a patient defensive game and confident baseline shots to wear down the error-prone U.S. Open champion and silence the sell-out crowd of 5,000.

In the second set, Dementieva used a delicate drop shot to break for a 2-1 lead. Often she came under pressure, but produced some of her finest play to neutralise break points.

Clijsters never got control of her serve and lost it three times to give away the match in 1 hour, 36 minutes.

Dementieva won all three of her matches in last year's Fed Cup final against France to give Russia its second title in a row.

Debutants' shine

At Ettenheim, Germany, Jamea Jackson gave an under-strength United States team a shock 1-0 lead over Germany.

Despite being ranked 61 places behind her opponent, Fed Cup debutant Jackson edged out World No. 14 Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

The 20-year-old German No. 1 began the match with a double fault and looked well below her best as she was broken seven times by Jackson.

Groenefeld served for the match at 5-4 in the final set but Jackson battled back to reel off the final three games and claim a well-deserved victory.

In Valencia, Spain, Another debutant Lourdes Dominguez-Lino struck the first blow for Spain, beating Sybille Bammer 7-6, 3-6, 6-3.

The Spaniard put in an aggressive display to take a scrappy first set including six breaks of serve, when Bammer double faulted to lose the tie break 7-5. Austria's left-hander fought back to take the second set comfortably but was broken in the first game of the deciding set. Dominguez-Lino held her serve to keep the pressure on Bammer who was finally broken again to put the five-time Fed Cup winner 1-0 up.

The results:

World Group: At Liege: Russia 1, Belgium 0 (Elena Dementieva bt Kim Clijsters, 6-4, 6-3).

At Ettenheim: United States 1, Germany 0 (Jamea Jackson bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-2, 3-6, 7-5).

At Nancy: Italy 1 France (Francesca Schiavone bt Nathalie Dechy 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3).

At Valencia: Spain 1, Austria 0 (Lourdes Dominguez-Lino bt Sybille Bammer 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3).

World Group II: At Bangkok: Thailand 1, Czech Republic 1 (Suchanun Viratprasert bt Iveta Benesova 6-4, 6-4; Montinee Tangphong lost to Nicole Vaidisova 6-0, 6-2).

At Jakarta: China 2, Indonesia 0 (Li Na bt Angelique Widjaja 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; Peng Shuai bt Romana Tedjakusuma 2-6, 6-4, 6-0).

At Tokyo: Japan 2, Switzerland 0 (Aiko Nakamura bt Timea Bacsinszky 6-2, 3-6, 6-1; Ai Sugiyama bt Stefanie Vogele 6-2, 4-6, 6-1).

At Zagreb: Croatia 1, Argentina 0 (Karolina Sprem bt Maria-Jose Argeri 6-2, 6-4). — Agencies