Dementieva finds pressure points

For all the training and practice, for all the perfecting of shots and tactics, Elena Dementieva won her quarter-final against Nadia Petrova between the ears. Sigmund Freud would have had a field day.

Dementieva reached her first Wimbledon semi-final on her tenth attempt with a 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 win over Petrova, but that is only the half of it.

It was like watching a car crash – terrifying to watch and yet scarily compelling. You wanted to avert your gaze and yet you could not take your eyes off the devastation laid bare in front of you.

For the first four games we had a traditional tennis match on our hands, then things got weird.

It all started in the fourth game when Petrova, playing a second serve, was called for a foot fault. According to the centre line judge, her right foot had strayed ever so slightly over the line and into the ad court.

Not actually into the court, you understand, but over the ‘the imaginary extension’ of the centre line that extends beyond the baseline, as it is described in the rule book.

Petrova could not believe it. She had a word with the official at the back of the court but he would not be budged.

She still could not believe it and continued not to believe it for the next five games as Dementieva skipped lightly away with the first set and on to a break of serve in the second. Even when Petrova managed to get a game on the scoreboard in that set, it was only a token gesture.

Dementieva moved to a 5-1 lead as her opponent fretted and fumed and threatened her racket with destruction after every error. And there were errors aplenty. She finally stopped the rot by holding serve to make it 5-2, but no one would have given her a hope of going any further.

Then it came time for Dementieva to serve for the match. Surely she could be feeling no pressure given the size of her lead and the mental state of her Russian rival. Oh, ye of too much faith. As she flapped and double faulted her way towards the tie-break, Petrova was sweeping up the games and clearing her mind of angst and turmoil.

Once into the tie-break, it came as no surprise to watch seven of the 14 points go against serve and nor was it startling to see Dementieva blow two match points. By this stage, the crowd did not know whether to applaud or give both women a nice cup of tea and a shoulder to cry on. It was desperate stuff.

It was not the first time Dementieva had been in this position. Just a few weeks ago she had been rattling through her quarter-final against Dinara Safina at Roland Garros when, suddenly and inexplicably, she collapsed from a set and 5-2 up. Even she could see the similarities between the two situations, a fact that must have done little for her anxiety levels.

Back in SW19 and the third set where Dementieva raced to a 4-0 lead as Petrova began to self destruct again (by the end of the match, she had racked up 27 winners and 42 unforced errors), but that was not the end of it.

Another double fault cost Dementieva her serve and gave her opponent a hint of a chance. This time, though, the fifth seed was not to be denied her first appearance in the Wimbledon semi-finals. Presented with two match points, she needed only one as she clattered a winning forehand into the corner.

Dementieva was delighted and the crowd was exhausted. To think, we have all of this to go through again on Thursday when she takes on Venus Williams in the semi-finals.