Depleted Dementieva loses battle against fatigue

Depleted Dementieva loses battle against fatigueIndian Wells, California  - Exhausted Elena Dementieva, winner of her first 15 matches this season, hit the wall as she crashed out to Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-1 Saturday at the Indian Wells Masters.

"I shouldn't have come here because I didn't have enough time to recover after playing so many matches in the beginning of the year," said the Russian Olympic gold medallist. "I just needed a much longer break to get ready to play at my best."

Indian Wells marked the sixth 2009 tournament for the Russian, now 21-4 on the season with January titles at Auckland and Sydney, a final in Paris and an Australian Open semi. She also won a Fed Cup match last month.

"That probably was the worst match for a long time for me. I'm sure there was a reason for that," she said. "But there's nothing I can do about it. I had a good start. All I need was just to have a good break and start over again."

Dementieva's fatigue showed up in 14 double-faults in the two-hour contest, during which she was broken eight times.

Polish seventh seed Agieszwa Radwanska moved through to the third round over Australian Samantha Stosur 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Two minor seeds were eliminated as Nuria Llagostera Vives beat number 14 Dominika Cibulkova 7-6 (8-6), 6-0, and Vera Dushevina upset China's number 15 Zheng Jie 6-2, 6-2.

Men's fourth seed Andy Murray began a slow return to form after overcoming a virus that had laid him low for more than a week, advancing to victory 7-5, 6-3 over Albert Montanes.

"I thought I did well. I wanted to just give it 110 per cent," said the winner of two ATP titles so far in 2009. "I moved my best for quite a while. I wasn't hitting the ball particularly well, but I moved well. After I went down a break in the first set I did well to come back."

Murray's win in one hour, 35 minutes, was his second this season over Montanes, ranked 35th.

The winner said that after his health scare - he had been feeling poorly since the Australian Open in January - he kept his hopes modest.

"You just go in with a little bit less expectation. When you're not expecting to play your best and you go behind, you just deal with it a little bit better," Murray said.

"I don't change the way I play. You just to have try and work your way into the match. I got more solid as it went on."

Spain's number 15 Tommy Robredo went through Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-1, 6-4, while Russian Igor Andreev beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6- 4, 6-4.

Croatian Marin Cilic rallied past Belgian Steve Darcis, posting a 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-1 win.

French players posted two wins and a loss.

Richard Gasquet and Paul-Henri Mathieu moved through while German Philip Kohlschreiber stopped Olivier Patience 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-3 after the French player replaced injured fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko. (dpa)