Tue Sep 2 12:55:57 2008

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High-flying Dementieva soars into U.S. Open semis

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Flushing Meadows, NY (Sports Network) - Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva was an easy quarterfinal winner Tuesday at the 2008 U.S. Open.

The fifth-seeded Dementieva won her 11th straight match with a 6-2, 6-3 pasting of 15th-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder at Ashe Stadium. The Russian moved on in 1 hour, 16 minutes with the help of five service breaks, compared to only one for the loser Schnyder.

Dementieva's semifinal opponent will be second-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic or 29th-seeded Austrian Sybille Bammer. Jankovic and Bammer will square off here on Tuesday night.

The 26-year-old Dementieva is now 10-7 lifetime against the lefthanded Schnyder, including 2-0 at the U.S. Open, where the Russian prevailed in a fourth-rounder back in 2005.

Dementieva will appear in her fourth U.S. Open semifinal in nine years. She reached the final here in 2004, but lost to fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The two-time major finalist Dementieva was last month's gold medal winner at the Beijing Games, reached the quarterfinals at the French Open in June, and was a semifinalist at Wimbledon in July.

The other quarters will pit fourth-seeded Serena Williams against seventh- seeded Venus Williams and sixth-seeded Russian Dinara Safina versus 16th- seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta on Wednesday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.