World number 8 Elena Dementieva narrowly escaped an upset by beating American Megahnn Shaughnessy in a gruelling three setter that lasted for exactly 180 minutes.

The athletic Russian blonde looked on the right direction for a relatively easy first set after jumping to a 4-2 lead and then 5-3. At 5-3 Dementieva held a match point but missed to convert it and her problems started exaclty after Shaughnessy managed to hold serve in that game. The failed attempts of coming to net in the beginning of the set were now working dramatically well for Shaughnessy and point after point the 27 year old Amercian drew error after error from the Russian side. Eventually the big serving from Scottsdale closed the first set 7-5.

The American was apparently on cruise control by then and kept her momentum in the second set racing to a 3-0 lead, after which Dementieva asked for a tour trainer to strap her right wrist. After being assisted, Dementieva also seemed to regain her composure and focus, and started dictating points, which earned her six straight games en route to a 6-3 second set win.

The third set featured intense drama with plenty of breaks from one side to the other, in what is something far from unusual when Elena Dementieva steps into court. At some poitn players were tied at 5-5 but when Dementieva seemed to be giving up she found some more fuel on her tank, something Megahnn failed to find, and eventually closed out the day with a 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 win, in what was yet another three set win coming from behind. Dementieva has been impressive this season in three setters, losing only two so far this season in 12 played.

Next up for the classy and tough Russian will be another Elena, this time Elena Likhovtseva. In the head-to-head record Dementieva has an edge of 3-2, however the last time she faced her older countrywoman, Dementieva lost in a tight three set thriller in Roland Garros last year on the 4th round.

On day 5 of The Championships, players, so far qualified, include Justine Henin-Hardenne who quickly disosed of Anna Chakvetadze, and in the upset of the tournament so far, Na Li defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova by 3.6, 6-2, 6-3. In doubles action Dementieva/Pennetta easily sent packing Bammer/Schruff. Other winners include Ruano pascual/Suarez, Raymond/Stosur, Likhovtseva/Myskina and Groenefeld/Shaughnessy.

Martina Hingis advanced into the third round of Wimbledon after defeating Italian Tathiana Garbin, 6-1, 6-2. With the win, Hingis is now 4-0 in career head-to-head wins over Garbin.

Both players displayed some excellent tennis shots to the applause of the ever-cheerful crowd on court one. However, in the end, Hingis prevailed with a first serve percentage of 61 percent against Garbin’s 60, with no double faults compared to Garbin’s three, and with just six unforced errors compared to Garbin’s sixteen. Hingis was never bothered by Garbin from the start, although Garbin played some great tennis.

In the first set, Hingis cruised on to win the first three games. Hingis did some experimentation with her shots, which caused her to be broken by Garbin. Though broken at the fourth game of the first set, Hingis maintained her focus and moved on to win the next three games to claim the first set, 6-1 in 33 minutes.

In the second set, Hingis claimed the first game before Garbin showed some aggressiveness in claiming the next game to even the score at 1-1. Martina went on to win the third game by holding her serve. Garbin responded by holding her serve to level the score at 2-2. Martina then went on to win the next three games, taking the second set at 6-2, in 27 minutes.

The match had some funny moments. At one point in the second set, Garbin was cheered for chasing a ball, which was clearly out, then landed on a seat near a gentleman. The gentleman then gave Garbin a high five. Later, Hingis would join the crowd in their cheering with their “Mexican Wave.”

Hingis’ next opponent will be Ai Sugiyama. Hingis owns a 6-1 lead in their career head-to-head wins.

In her return to Wimbledon since her comeback, 12th seed Martina Hingis easily dismissed teenaged Ukrainian Olga Savchuk 6-2, 6-2 in the first round.

Playing her first competitive match on grass since losing to Virginia Ruano Pascual in the first round in 2001, Hingis, playing in Court 2 (otherwise known as the “Graveyard of Champions”), showed good form. She never appeared threatened in this match that was played in a span of two days due to rain interruptions. She began a bit tentatively in the first set. Feeling the court during the first few games, she quickly found her wide range of shots. She approached the net when opportunities arose, served well and showed incredible court speed. This was especially evident when she scrambled to reach a Savchuk drop shot to win the set on her fifth set point. After 30 minutes of play, the skies opened and rain forced the match to be postponed until the following day.

The second set followed a similar fashion. Both players held serve until 2-2, then Hingis ran off with the next four games to seal the match. Hingis’ match statistics appear encouraging: she hit 26 winners to 9 unforced errors; her serve was never broken but she managed to break the hard-serving Ukrainian 4 times. This match also saw her effectively mixing volleys and dropshots with her consistent groundstrokes.

Martina Hingis next faces 68th-ranked Tathiana Garbin of Italy in the 2nd round. She leads their head to head 3-0.

Elena Dementieva was handed one of the hardest first-round contestants she could get, Sania Mirza. Due to a slip in the rankings, the Indian wasn’t ranked high enough to be seeded, so she became an authentic clock-bomb as the draw was announced. Eventually, she was placed in the 63rd position right next to Elena Dementieva, sitting in the 64th position of the draw.

The number 7 seed Dementieva will then have her hands full in the first round and Mirza has already stated that she’s willing to make the Russina run for her money. Last year Mirza had a second round heart-breaking loss to Kuznetsova and she promises to give it all again this eyar, this time versus Dementieva.

“I hope to make it as memorable as my last year,” Mirza said.

But the Indian, who lost to Dementieva earlier this year in Indian Wells, also acknowledged that Dementieva isn’t just another player out there.

“Obviously this is a very tough first round and the problem with playing a top-10 player is that unless you play at your best, they have the capacity to humiliate you on court. She is one fo the hardest strikers of te ball that i have ever played against. I played a tight three-setter against her last time and I hope to give a good account myself this time”, Mirza added.

The previous, and so far lonely match before this Wimbledon clash, came in the 4th round of the Pacific Life Open when Dementieva posted a comebeack victory by the scores of 5-7, 6-4 and 6-4. The match featured intense rallies from the baseline with a huge battle of forehands eventually being claimed by Elena Dementieva.

Should Dementieva get past the phenomenal Mirza, Elena will get a showdown with either American veteran Meghann Shaughnessy or up-and-coming Alyona Bondarenko.

Looking even more ahead in the draw, and in case the seedings hold, Likhovtseva is the potencial opponent. For the 4th round the main contenders are Nathalie Dechy, fresh from her number one victory over Amelie Mauresmo in Eastbourne, and Francesca Schiavone, whose results on grass haven’t quite matched her real talent.

Should Elena advance beyong the 4th round, the giant killer Maria Sharapova will certainly be waiting and willing to beat whoever gets in the way of her quest for a second Wimbledon trophy.

In the doubles, Dementieva/Pennetta were named 8th in the seeding list and will play against the team composed by Schruff/Bammer.

Dementieva is scheduled for Wednesday after the traditional rainy clouds stopped play for most of the first day of The Championships.

Martina Hingis returns to Wimbledon after her first-round defeat to Virginia Ruano Pascual back in 2001.

A strong field of players makes up the first ten seeds at this year’s edition of Wimbledon starting June 26 through July 9, 2006. Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, the reigning Australian Open winner, is seeded at number one, while US Open winner, Belgian Kim Clijsters, is seeded second. French Open winner, Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne is seeded third followed by 2004 Champion, Russian Maria Sharapova at fourth. Another Russian, 2004 US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova is seeded fifth. Defending champion, American Venus Williams is seeded sixth. Russian Elena Dementieva, Swiss Patty Schnyder, Russian Anastasia Myskina, 2004 French Open winner, and Czech Nicole Vaidisova are seeded seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth respectively.

Hingis, seeded twelfth, will face Olga Savchuk from Ukraine, who is ranked 103rd in the world. Hingis should have no problem advancing into the second round.

Potential opponent in the second round is Italian Tathiana Garbin, ranked 63rd in the world. Hingis has 3-0 career head-to-head wins against her. In the third round, Hingis will likely play against Japanese Ai Sugiyama who is seeded eighteenth. Recall that Sugiyama’s only win against Hingis was at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Hingis has a comfortable 6-1 career head-to-head wins over Sugiyama. A potential duel of Swiss players will be in the offing should Hingis and Patty Schnyder win all their matches leading into the fourth round. Hingis, though, has a 2-1 lead in their career head-to-head wins. Should Hingis prevail, her possibly daunting challenge would be how to beat Henin-Hardenne in the quarterfinals. Though Hingis leads in career head-to-head wins, 2-1, Henin-Hardenne won their latest match earlier this year at the Sydney International tournament.