Sporting Life - Wimbledon 2008

Fifth seed Elena Dementieva booked her place in the semi-finals of Wimbledon with a nerve-wrecking three-set victory over fellow Russian Nadia Petrova.

Dementieva, the highest remaining seed left in the tournament, had looked in full control of the clash from early in the opening set and despite almost throwing it all away she eventually closed it out 6-1 6-7 (6/8) 6-3 on Centre Court.

The 26-year-old from Moscow, not usually regarded as a grass court player, won five games in a row in the first set but it was made easy when her compatriot fell to pieces after losing serve in the fourth.

Petrova, seeded 21, was called for a foot fault on the opening point and clearly ruined her concentration as Dementieva moved a step closer to the last four.

A similar pattern occurred in the second set as Dementieva raced into a 5-1 lead as Petrova's unforced error count began to mount but at the first time of asking she failed in her attempts to serve for the match.

At 5-4 the she had another opportunity but kill the game off but her fellow Russian dug deep to break back again and suddenly, out of nowhere, it was game on.

A tie-break was needed to settle matters and it looked as if Dementieva would crawl over the finishing line after earning two match points to lead 6-4. But she choked once again under the pressure as Petrova capitalised to square the match and force a deciding set.

However it was now Dementieva's turn to find extra reserves and she swung the momentum back in her favour by breaking twice on the trot to race into a 4-0 lead.

Petrova nearly repeated her exploits of the second set by narrowing the deficit to 5-3 but at the third time of asking Dementieva managed to stay calm, keep control of her nerves and serve out for an extraordinary triumph.

After the match Dementieva admitted her mind wandered back to her French Open quarter-final defeat to Dinara Safina, when she lost 6-0 in the third set after leading by a set and 5-2.

"I was like, 'Oops, I did it again," Dementieva joked.

"And then when I take 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.

"It feels wonderful. It's my first semi-finals here and I'm just very excited about it. I was really, really tight in the second set. It was such a close moment for me to go through.

"But I'm just really happy that I was able to go through such a difficult situation in my match and was able to finish in a good way.

"I just 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.

"I didn't want to think. I forget immediately what happened to me because I remember this match against Dinara and I didn't play at all in the third set.

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

Petrova was furious following the foot fault incident and also complained the players were "not treated" properly in the hot weather.

"The linesman was not really paying attention to the right things," said Petrova.

"I've never been foot-faulted in this way.

"He said my right foot was on the T line (centre service line). But I felt like I didn't let the ball go. That was not the beginning of the motion.

"It was hard for me to believe because I ended up after the serve at least two feet from the T. It was very strange.

"It was a very important game. After losing that I gave her a lead of 4-1 so it was difficult to catch up already in the second set."

On the hot weather, the 26-year-old added: "I think I made a mistake that I stayed on court. I should go off court and cool down.

"Today was very hot and I was very surprised that we were not treated as we should be.

"I think for the first two sets there was not a ball boy putting the umbrella behind us.

"I told the umpire that it wasn't really professional. I think it reached up to 27 degrees and being in the stadium I think makes it even hotter.

"They had to be aware of it and have somebody standing there for every changeover with an umbrella."