Inspired Dementieva leaves Venus reeling

By Martyn Herman

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