Olympic champion Elena Dementieva began her warm-up for Wimbledon with a swift 6-2, 6-2 win over fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko at the Eastbourne International on Monday. With the 35-year-old event including a men's tournament for the first time, second seed Dmitry Tursunov of Russia had to battle hard to beat Italian Fabio Fognini 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Former women's world number one Ana Ivanovic's struggle to get back to the top continued when she lost a seesaw match with Russian seventh seed Nadia Petrova 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Serbian Ivanovic, who has dropped to 13th in the rankings, was in sight of victory at 4-1 up in the third set but double-faulted to allow Petrova to break and then surrendered meekly.
"I think I could have played a lot better and that is why I was a little bit disappointed because I was practising really well," said Ivanovic, who parted company with coach Craig Kardon last week. Top seed Dementieva, a Wimbledon semi-finalist last year, looked to have a fight on her hands when Kirilenko saved three breakpoints in a 14-minute opening game which went to deuce seven times.
Kirilenko, who had lost in seven previous first rounds this year, buckled however as the set progressed and allowed Dementieva to go 5-2 ahead.
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