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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 11:22 a.m., Saturday, May 24, 2008

Tennis: Radwanska beats Dementieva for title

Associated Press

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Agnieszka Radwanska beat top-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-3, 6-2 today to win the Istanbul Cup and become the first Polish woman to surpass $1 million in career earnings on the WTA Tour.

The No. 2-seeded Radwanska earned $30,500 for her third career title and gained momentum heading into the French Open after having been eliminated in the round-of-16 at all four of her previous clay-court tournaments this year.

Dementieva, the defending champion ranked seventh in the world, led 2-0 and 40-15 in the first set before Radwanska rallied to win 11 of the next 13 games.

"In the warm-up I couldn't put the ball in the court because I was so nervous, so the first few games were more like my warm-up," Radwanska said. "Then I started playing my game and being more aggressive. After winning the first set I won the first few games of the second set and things got better, and I did it."

Radwanska's victory adds to her titles in Stockholm last year and Pattaya City earlier this season.

The loss was Dementieva's first in eight matches in Istanbul.

"I really wanted to defend my title, I really wanted to win; maybe that's why I wasn't able to concentrate so well on fighting on the court," Dementieva said. "But although I don't feel I played that well, I give her all the credit for playing a great match. She was doing all of the right things."