Inspired Dementieva leaves Venus reeling

DOHA (Reuters) - Elena Dementieva lit up the WTA Championships on Tuesday with a sensational comeback to beat title holder Venus Williams 3-6 7-6 6-2 on the opening day of group matches.

The tenacious Russian looked down and out when she twice trailed by a break in the second set but blazed back under the Khalifa Stadium floodlights to leave her American opponent reeling.

In the other group, former world number one Jelena Jankovic lost 6-2 6-3 to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, one of two players making their debuts in the season-ending showpiece which will decide who ends the year as world number one.

Serena Williams, battling to overtake world number one Dinara Safina, plays later against French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova before meeting her sister on Wednesday.

Quite how much Venus, the world number seven, will have left in the tank is debatable after a brutal contest in high humidity against Dementieva, a player making her ninth appearance in 10 years at the Championships.

She seemed to be well in control when she led 3-1 in the second set against the Olympic champion who she had beaten in nine of their 11 previous matches, but Dementieva dug deep to level at 3-3.

A Dementieva double-fault at 5-5 gave Williams the chance to serve for the match but the Russian hit back immediately with a searing backhand pass to set up a tiebreaker which she clinched when Williams also served a double-fault.

INSPIRED DEMENTIEVA

The deciding set was one-way traffic as an inspired Dementieva broke twice for a 4-0 lead before clinching her first victory over Venus for more than five years with another backhand winner.

"In the end I was very emotional very positive," Dementieva, who lost to Serena Williams in a high-quality Wimbledon semi-final this year, said on court.

"When you play against a player like Venus you can't put pressure on yourself but you have to fight or every point."

While the second match of the day enthralled the crowd with the quality of the tennis, the opening encounter was a subdued affair played in a half-empty stadium.

Jankovic, one of three players to top the world rankings this year but who scraped into the event as the final qualifier, sprayed 33 errors and said she was a shadow of her former self.

"I basically gave her everything," the downcast 24-year-old told reporters. "I beat myself. That was really unfortunately the case. My game was completely off."

Members of Qatar's ruling Al-Thani family watched from the Royal Box as the shrieking 20-year-old Azarenka sped into a 6-2 3-1 lead before Jankovic sparked into life to break back.

The revival did not last, however, as Azarenka profited from more wayward Jankovic shots and, after coming through an eighth game that went to five deuces, she served out for the victory.

Azarenka now tops the White Group which also includes Safina and Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ed Osmond, To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)