Oops I nearly did it again, says Dementieva

By Sonia Oxley

LONDON (Reuters) - Wimbledon semi-finalist Elena Dementieva said the depressing thought that she was about to lose a second successive grand slam quarter-final after holding match point had helped her fight back on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old Russian was knocked out of this year's French Open quarter-finals by Dinara Safina after squandering a match point in the second set.

She said she had started to think the same thing was about to happen to her against compatriot Nadia Petrova on Tuesday when she had been up a set and 5-1 before losing the second set in a tiebreak, in which she had held two match points.

"I was like, Oops, I did it again -- I'm out of semi-finals," the fifth seed told a news conference after winning 6-1 6-7 6-3.

"Then when I took some time to change my dress, I was like, I don't want to lose. I really want to win this match because I don't want to have this experience again. And I won it."

To help her recover from losing the tiebreak, she said she had pretended to herself that she had in fact won the set.

"I told myself that I have to think that I won this second set 7-6, and that gave me some energy in the beginning of the third set," said Dementieva, who will face champion Venus Williams in the last four.

"I forgot immediately what happened to me because I remember this match against Dinara and I didn't play at all in the third set (she lost it 6-0).

"Here I really didn't want to lose this match. I was really trying everything possible to fight, to play, and be positive, and it really worked."

She added that, although she would rather cruise to victory, the bumpy ride she has sometimes endured because of her nerves had made her stronger.

"I cannot say that I like drama ... for sure I prefer to win in two sets," she said.

"There is nothing you can do, you just have to go through this experience. It's okay to be nervous during the match, it's okay to be tight. I don't want to go on the court and feel like I don't care if I'm going to lose or win today.

"You just have to go through such experiences and be able to stay strong in the end."

(Editing by Clare Lovell)