Jelena Dokic loses in semis

After the early exit of Aussie hopes Pat Rafter, Leyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis in the men's singles event at Sydney, it was the turn of the women to let down an expectant home-crowd.

Jelena Dokic, the naturalised Australian backed by a vociferous home crowd, stormed into an early lead, taking the first set of the women's singles semifinals against Russia's Elena Dementieva 6-2.

But from there on, she seemed to take victory for granted, a lapse in concentration resulting in her serve going to pieces in the second set. The Russian girl, who initially seemed intimidated by the partisan crowd, meanwhile got her bearings back, and worked her way slowly back into the game with a good all-round display, to take the second set 6-4.

The third set went on serve for the first five games, before Elena broke Dokic to go into the lead. The second set loss seemed to have taken the sting out of Dokic's game and, after being broken in the third set, she never recovered, to lose the set 6-4 and with it, the match.

Dementieva will now play Venus Williams in the final, while Dokic plays Monica Seles of the US for bronze.

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