Kirilenko courting little success

14 June 2009 || By Monticelli

maria kirilenko"Always the first round is difficult to play," confessed disappointed Maria Kirilenko. 

And in Monday's opening round battle of the Russian babes on blustery Centre Court, Kirilenko matched Olympic champion Elena Dementieva for long periods only to bow out graciously 6-2, 6-2.

"I tried to move her on the baseline, and I know she can then make a mistake or a winner so I tried," shrugged Kirilenko, who played a keen game and was unfortunate to be beaten by such a flattering margin after 88 minutes.

This was the eighth time during the 2009 campaign that Kirilenko has suffered the knockout blow in the first round, and brings her grass court preparation to a sudden halt following the defeat to teenager Urszula Radwanska at Birmingham's AEGON Classic the week before Eastbourne.

But Kirilenko, whose string of first round failures is as famous as her relationship with injury-hit French ace Gaels Monfils, came close to drawing first blood only to narrowly lose the opening game after a ding-dong 14 minutes and seven deuces.

Dementieva stuttered with service problems, blamed on the swirling windy conditions and lack of confidence following her shock 2009 French Open exit to Australian Sam Stosur at the 2009 French Open.

Kirilenko matched the top seed shot for shot, much appreciated by the sun-drenched crowd, but lacked the killer instinct and soon fell behind by two breaks of serve to crash 6-2 in the first set. But managed to pressurise Dementieva into two double faults on set point.

A further two breaks of serve in favour of the erratic Dementieva allowed serving for the match, sealed with a formidable winner,and surprisingly Dementieva claimed: "I think that was a good match for the first one on grass."

But Kirilenko's overall performance should have boosted her belief and confidence to ensure that she will be a pretty dangerous floater at SW19.