By
Craig Silver
Shahar Peer was battered into submission by world No. 5 Elena Dementieva in the fourth round, and denied the opportunity of being the first-ever Israeli to reach the quarter finals.
Peer found it difficult to cope with the superb ground strokes and vicious backhands which saw Dementieva cruise to victory, winning 6-2, 6-1 in one hour and 15 minutes.
Peer, 26 in the world rankings, hit just 11 unforced errors during the match, but the Russian’s 24 winners gave Israel’s No. 1 player no chance.
Dementieva opened a quick 3-0 lead in the first set of the match, saving four break points in the third game.
A love break in the eighth clinched the first set, but a Peer break in the first game of the second set gave the Israeli some hope of a comeback.
The Russian broke back immediately and reeled off six straight games to progress to the quarter finals.
The 21-year-old Peer has now lost four times in a row to Dementieva, and was thrashed by the Russian for a second consecutive match, with the players last meeting in the third round of this year’s Australian Open ending in a 6-2, 6-0 loss.
The Israeli who recently added new coaching staff to her team, now hopes to continue her recent good form when she travels to America to compete in the US open in September.
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