MOSCOW, July 2 (RIA Novosti) - Elena Dementieva had one regret after her epic semifinal loss to Serena Williams at Wimbledon on Thursday - the match point that got away.
The Russian's tense 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-8 loss to the two-time champion took a record 2 hours and 49 minutes, but the No. 4 seed wished it had stopped a few games earlier.
Leading 5-4 in the deciding set, Dementieva had a match point at 30-40 on Williams' serve. The American came into the net, and he opponent tried a cross-court passing shot.
"That's my only regret. I should have taken more of a risk by going down the line," the 27-year-old said after the match.
"A passing shot is my favorite shot to make," she added. "Maybe it was all too quick. I didn't see that she was moving to cover the cross-court. I should have gone down the line or even used a lob."
She compared Williams, who plays sister Venus in a repeat of the 2002, 2003 and 2008 finals, to Andy Roddick, who has served 139 aces in his march to the men's semifinals.
"She served so well that I wasn't sure if I was facing Serena Williams or Andy Roddick out there," Dementieva said.
The No. 2 seed smashed down 20 aces, to Dementieva's three.
Venus Williams, who beat Dementieva in the semifinals last year, breezed past Russian world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the second semifinal 6-1, 6-0.
