Tennis 'Divas' Thrill Local Fans With Sensational Tennis (BERNAMA)

From Ahmad Kamal Dahalan ', TEXTFONT, 'Verdana, Arial, Helvetica', TEXTSIZE, '1', WIDTH, 75)" onmouseout="nd()">SHAH ALAM, Dec 19 (Bernama) -- Tennis superstars, Sania Mirza, Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko and Zheng Jie gave the local fans their money's worth with some sensational tennis action in the "Showdown of Champions" at the Malawati Stadium here on Saturday night.

Dementieva, the world number five, and her partner Kirilenko (world number 62) both from Russia overcame Asian representatives Zheng Jie from China and Mirza from India 2-1 in a pulsating match that was decided by a tie-break.

Though the Russian duo took the first set 6-4, largely due to numerous mistakes by Zheng early in the match, the Asian duo fought back superbly to draw level with a 7-5 win in the second set.

The Russians however, turned on their power to walk away with a 10-8 victory in the deciding tie-break.

Tomorrow, Dementieva will take on Sania in a singles match while Kirilenko is slated to face Zheng in another tie.

--BERNAMA