Dementieva rolls past Ditty in her first match

Charleston 2009

That wasn't a Bronx cheer you heard late in Tuesday night's Family Circle Cup match featuring No. 1 seed Elena Dementieva.

It was more like a pity Ditty party.

Dementieva crushed Julie Ditty, 6-0, 6-2, on Tuesday night at Family Circle Cup Stadium, as the top-seeded Russian needed only 50 minutes to dispose of the 30-year-old Ditty, a somewhat obscure member of the Sony Ericcson WTA Tour who resides in Ashland, Ky., and has won $384,988 in a career that dates back to 2002.

Dementieva, who has a chance to pick up a paycheck for $187,815 if she can live up to her top billing in Charleston, won the first 10 games of the match and it looked like a double-bagel night until Ditty finally won a game and the crowd roared its approval. Some even chanted "U.S.A."

But in reality, there was no way Ditty was going to win.

"It was a good warm-up," said Dementieva who buried her opponent with forehands and backhands, with power and finesse, and a serve that consistently topped 100 mph. "Let's say it was a good first round, and I have a day off, so I am going to watch my next round (opponent), and get ready for the next round."

Dementieva was nearly flawless in the first set, winning six games in 17 minutes. She won 79 percent of her first service points and 24 of the 33 points.

"I think it is very important to stay focused, especially when you're playing a match like that, when you're always up in the score, like 6-0, 3-0 and I still need to be focused," she said. "You still need to play your game, be aggressive 'til the end because it's very easy to lose your concentration when you're winning so easily."

Dementieva upped her record to 14-6 in Charleston. She lost to Vera Zvonareva in the semifinals last year, and her best finish was in 2005 when she reached the championship, losing to Justine Henin.

"It feels very good to be back here," said Dementieva, who has won more than $11 million in her 11 years as a professional. "It's my first tournament (this year) on clay court, so I was practicing for 10 days on the clay surface, and I was trying to get ready for this tournament. So today was a good start for this tournament, and hopefully, it's going to give me confidence for the next round."

Dementieva, who will face the winner of today's Varvara Lepchenko-Shenay Perry match, is the world No. 3 thanks to a new-found confidence in her service game. She was No. 11 at the end of '07, but won three titles last year and a gold medal in Beijing. She's already won two titles this year to give her 13 for her career.

One of her losses this year was to Serena Williams in the Australian Open. It marked the first time in four matches that Williams managed to beat the blonde Russian.

Dementieva said she doesn't feel any pressure from being the No. 1 seed.

"I know it's going to be a tough tournament," she said. "There are a lot of good players, a lot of players who won this tournament before like Venus Williams and Nadia Petrova. So I'm just focusing on my game and trying to play as good as I can on clay court."