Tennis: Pe'er advances to face Dementieva

After defeating Jessica Moore 6-0, 7-5 in the second round of the Australian Open, Pe'er will face world No. 11 Elena Dementieva.

By ALLON SINAI
Shahar Peer 88 (photo credit: AP)
Shahar Peer 88
(photo credit: AP)
Shahar Pe'er will face world No. 11 Elena Dementieva in the third round of the Australian Open after defeating Jessica Moore 6-0, 7-5 in the second round on Wednesday. Pe'er (17) defeated Dementieva when the players first met in the third round of the French Open in 2006, but has since lost twice to the 26-year-old Russian. On Wednesday, the 20-year-old Israeli dominated the 17-year-old Moore (376) in the first set and despite a small hiccup in the second set wrapped up the win to advance to the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for a sixth straight time. "I played really well and barely made any mistakes in the first set," Pe'er said on Wednesday. "I was ahead 5-3 in the second set and played two really poor games, failing to claim a single point. At 5-5 I played much better and managed to claim the win." Of her next opponent, Pe'er said: "I practiced with Dementieva before the tournament. She's a very good player and it will be a very difficult match. I'll have to play well, just like I did in the first set on Wednesday, and we'll have to see how the match develops." On Thursday, Pe'er and Victoria Azarenka, who are seeded 12th in the doubles tournament, play Sybille Bammer and Tamira Paszek in the first round. For a second straight year, Dudi Sela (66) was knocked out in the second round at Melbourne. The 22-year-old lost 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 to Croatian Ivo Karlovic (24). Sela claimed a hard fought first set on his fifth set point, but lost the second set after being broken in the 10th game. The third and fourth sets were controlled by the 2.08 meter tall Croat, who converted five of 13 break-points on Wednesday. On Thursday, Sela will team up with Harel Levy in the doubles tournament and face Yves Allegro and Kristof Vliegen in the first round. Sela and Levy will try to emulate Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich, who advanced to the second round on Wednesday. The more established Israeli duo, who are seeded eighth in the tournament, defeated Russian's Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov 7-5, 6-3 and will play Scott Lipsky and David Martin in the second round. Tzipi Obziler and Ashley Harkleroad lost 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in a first round doubles match against Laura Granville and Vladimira Uhlirova on Wednesday.