PARIS, France - Elena Dementieva tries to put a tough loss in last year's final and an unfortunate Australian Open draw behind her this week as she goes for the Open GDF SUEZ title on the indoor hardcourts of Paris.
Dementieva, a runner-up to the now-retired Amélie Mauresmo in three sets here last year, had arguably the toughest early round draw in Melbourne just a few weeks ago, getting seven-time Grand Slam champion and former No.1 Justine Henin in the second round. Henin won that clash with Dementieva and eventually made it all the way to the final before falling to Serena Williams.
Given her semifinalist points from Melbourne in 2009 dropped off, this week Dementieva finds herself out of the Top 5 at No.7 - however, she is still the top seed and favorite for this week's Open GDF SUEZ. She has a first round bye and will begin against Iveta Benesova or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Flavia Pennetta, Yanina Wickmayer and Francesca Schiavone, all ranked in the No.11 to No.20 range, are the No.2, No.3 and No.4 seeds. Wickmayer was also among Henin's victims in Melbourne, falling to her fellow Belgian in the fourth round; Pennetta lost to Wickmayer in the second round, while Schiavone lost to Venus Williams in the fourth round. Aravane Rezai, Shahar Peer, Virginie Razzano and Elena Vesnina round out the Top 8 seeds.
Other names to watch for include Lucie Safarova and Agnes Szavay, both of whom have been to the final here, in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
World No.1 doubles players Cara Black and Liezel Huber are the top seeds in the doubles draw, going for their third Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title of the year, having already won in Auckland and at the year's first Premier event in Sydney.
