For Elena Dementieva, it must feel like deja vu or a strange remake of “Groundhog Day”. For the second time in three tournaments, she must face uber-wildcard Justine Henin in an early round match, this time at the Sony Ericsson Open.
For both players, it’s a must win match, not just to keep their hopes alive for taking the title in Miami, but to make up for what’s been an up and down start for 2010.
Henin, who lost early to Gisela Dulko at Indian Wells last week would have faced Dementieva in the third round there. Of course, Dementieva barely lost to Henin at the Australian Open in one of the best matches of the event that fueled Henin’s run to the finals. Meanwhile, despite winning Sydney and Paris earlier, Dementieva has been lackluster so far at the big events this year and would love nothing more than have a deep run at Miami.
A loss for either player, though not disastrous, would not be great heading into the clay court season. Henin, whose serve is still inconsistent, probably needs it more than Dementieva ranking wise as she doesn’t want to find herself outside the top 20 come French Open time. Meanwhile if Dementieva loses again to Henin, it would be another disappointing early round loss and could mean she may never defeat the Belgian who currently owns a whopping 10-2 lifetime match record against the Russian.
Whichever way, it should make for an entertaining match. Let me know who you think will win.
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