Elena out of Charleston
19th April 2008
Elena has been knocked out of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston at the semi-final stage.  Elena was defeated by #9 seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia 3-6 7-6 3-6.

Elena will now take just over 1 week off to prepare for a red clay exhibition in Warsaw which begins on April 30th.

Elena defeats Schnyder in Charleston
18th April 2008
Elena scored her 8th win over #7 seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland to advance to the semis of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston.  This is Elena's 3rd semi-final of the year so far.

Elena has won 11 of her last 12 matches.

In the semis to be played on Saturday, Elena will face either top seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia or Vera Zvonareva of Russia.

Elena into Charleston Quarters
17th April 2008
Elena is through to her 4th quarter-final of the year at Charleston after she defeated #13 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-4 7-5. 

In the quarters to be played on Friday, Elena will play 7th seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, they have played 15 times before and Elena leads the series 8-7, having won the last meeting in Dubai earlier this year on hardcourts.


Elena through in Charleston
16th April 2008
Elena started her clay season with a bang today as she defeated Jill Craybas of the United States 6-0 6-2 in just over an hour.

In the 3rd round to be played on Thursday, Elena will play Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. 

They have played once before in the quarters in Moscow last year and Elena won in straight sets.

Charleston draw released
12th April 2008
The draw for the Family Circle Cup in Charleston has been released and Elena is the #4 seed and has a bye in the 1st round.  In the 2nd round Elena will play either Jill Craybas of the United States or a qualifier.  Elena has played Craybas once before, here 6 years ago and Elena had to retire injured in the 2nd set.  The 1st seed Elena can meet is #13 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

Charleston is Elena's 1st clay event of 2008 and is a tier 1.  Elena didn't play here last year and her best result here was reaching the final in 2005.

Elena out of Amelia Island
6th April 2008
Elena has pulled out of Amelia Island with the back injury that started in Miami.

Elena is still on the list to play Charleston, let's hope Elena can begin her 2008 clay season campaign there.  Charleston will begin on April 14th, so Elena has 1 week to decide what to do.

Elena pulls out of Miami with a back injury
2nd April 2008
Elena has had to pull out of Miami with a back injury.  Elena was trailing #4 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 1-6 1-3 when she pulled out.  Elena said that the injury is new and thinks it's from playing on the hardcourts.

To read Elena's interview after the match click here.

There is a little bit of good news though, and that is Elena will be back in the top 10 when the new rankings are published on Monday.

Elena in Oriflame Catalogue
2nd April 2008
Elena is featured in the Russian Oriflame catalogue.  There are 9 different photos of Elena from modelling with a racquet to modelling the skincare range. 

Go to the photos section to see all of the photos.

Oriflame is a Swedish skincare and cosmetics company.

Elena into Miami Quarters
31st March 2008
Elena is through to the quarters in Miami after she defeated Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-3 6-2 in 1 hour and 8 minutes.

In Elena's 3rd quarter-final appearance of the year she will play #4 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia.  They have played 5 times before and Elena trails the series 2-3 but the hardcourt head-to-head is 2-2.

This match will be played on Wednesday.

Elena battles into Miami last 16
30th March 2008
Elena is through to the 4th round in Miami after she defeated Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-0 6-7 6-4.  After Elena took the opening set without dropping a game it started to rain and it was a completely different match and Elena fought and came through to advance to the 4th round.

In the 4th round to be played on Monday, Elena will play Sabine Lisicki of Germany who upset #5 seed Anna Chakvetadze, Elena has never played the German before.

Elena into Miami 3rd round
29th March 2008
Elena won her 1st match in Miami today as she advanced to the 3rd round.  Elena defeated Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine 6-0 6-4.

In the 3rd round to be played on Sunday, Elena will play Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, Elena has never played the teenage Slovak before.

Miami draw released
24th March 2008
The draw for the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami has been released and Elena is the #10 seed and has a bye in the 1st round.  In the 2nd round she will play either Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine of Pauline Parmentier of France.  Elena has never played Parmentier before and played Bondarenko earlier this year in Paris and won in straight sets.  The 1st seed Elena can meet is #20 seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy in the 3rd round and is seeded to meet #5 seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia in the 4th round.

Miami is played on hardcourts and is a super tier 1 and Elena's best result here was reaching the final in 2004 and didn't play last year due to injury.

Elena pulls out of Indian Wells
5th March 2008
Elena has pulled out of Indian Wells which starts next week with a shoulder injury and she has said that she will be back in action at Miami which begins on March 24th.

Elena wins Dubai!
1st March 2008
Elena claimed her ninth WTA Tour singles title in Dubai, beating countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova in the night-time final, 4-6 6-3 -62.

Elena came out slowly versus world No.2 Kuznetsova in the final, dropping the first two games of the match and eventually the first set, but the fighting spirit that has helped her claw her way back so many times in the past rose from the ashes once again and she would concede only five more games the rest of the way, eventually notching the three set championship victory over her fellow Russian.

"I think I was playing wrong tactically in the first set; I was hitting the ball too short," Elena said. "I realized I had to move her around more and not just stay back and hit crosscourt, and I had to step in more and go for my forehand winners. I became more aggressive and it worked. It was a great match and I was playing really well, probably my best match in a long time."

"The whole week I had such a bad draw; this tournament is really popular and so everyone had it like that, but I'm just happy I was able to play my best at the end of the week," Elena said. "In the past I was playing Paris and Antwerp and so I didn't make it here, but I heard so many good things about it from the other players and I came this year. And I have no regrets!"

For more news click here