Mary Pierce vs Elena Dementieva US Open Semi-final 2005 

This is one of the best match-ups of this generation of women's tennis, and just overall. I mean, just such solid hitting. Pure tennis; love love love both of them.

Mary was always a favorite of mine! I was even a fan of hers for a moment back then lol.

My 84 year old mother still asks me to play my recorded video of this match

"Taught her everything she knows... except the serve." lol throwin' that shade

Two of the best ball strikers of all time. They were killing the ball.

I honestly think the women's game is going backwards, hard to imagine Kerber or Halep coping with this.

What a great match!, congrats to Pierce. Dementieva is such a great hard-hitter as well.

Some bitter fans on this thread. Mary won. She didn't cheat to win, she had treatment for an injury. Authorized by the umpire. Someone actually commented that she must have cheated because she became a better player all of a sudden in the second set.....errr yes.....because she had treatment for her injury. Honestly, it's a game. Pierce won. Get over it and go home.

i love mary pierce amazing tennis player

thank you for uploading this. I remember this match so well. Brillant ball striking from both players.

Until now I still wish Dementieva would hv won a slam. She is a much better player than many who has won a slam. She deserves to win one.

Commentator: "[Mama Vera] taught her everything she knows, except a serve" Ouch, that was SAVAGE lol

Thank you so much! what a match! what a performance and atitude! we miss you on court Mary!

Great highlights reel. I wasn't a fan of Elena's yet but I remember everyone talking about this match and what Pierce did. Elena had two sets to recover from the timeout, her level dropped (but still was quite high it seems) and while Pierce got some yoga and breathing drills in, Elena just didn't play well enough at the end of the day.

@gmaabs i had this match on dvd. Pierce has problem with her back on the word go. she even asked the umpire is she allowed to have both timeouts in a row (back and thigh) and the umpire said yes. And as mentioned, Elena even won the first game of the second set. Pierce won this match with brutal hitting in the third set. fair and square and that's about it

So sad that Pierce wasn't able to follow up this performance in the finals. She was amazing in 2005 but wasn't able to bring out her best tennis in the finals of the FO, USO, and Season ender.

I love Mary!!!!!

What can one say? This match leaves contemporary tennis in the dark. NO one is playing tennis like this today, I suggest not even the men. I would like to see anyone handle what they dished up that day. These two gave a masterclass in full throttle kitchen sink tennis. Some of the shots were breath taking. Dementieva was moving like Djokovic before he reached the top of the game. It reminds you just how high the standard was, and to think Pierce was then beaten by Clijsters in the final: who played incredible tennis to win. I miss those glory days.

Super high quality shots by both players. Great match.

Mary had a smooth service motion

SLUGFEST to the max! They were literally trying to kick each other in the balls! lol

I love both.

This is truly brutal hitting!

Another reason why this kind of hard hitting looks so good and you won't see replicated as much nowadays is here's two women both using fairly hefty heavy control rackets. They are generating the power themselves more. A lot of top players now are using (more so on women's side) lighter beefed up rackets. The power can be immense but they have less control!

Pierce is back….. love that one.

Elena was too good a player and too good an athlete for the serve she had. I know watching Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta and Helena Ostapenko all win majors is absolutely killing her

ur always coming up with the Mary goods ;-)

Mary was so awesome and tough here

@GazMysticism I just love watching Mary play and going through all the old matches. Got a few more to upload, although a lot on are VHS unfortunately. Need to get a converter!

The women's game is so poor compared to these days, watched loads of matches this year, and the likes of Woz, Radwanska, Arvidsson etc are so boring to watch. These two are fierce, loved them both, Love Mary's service technique, wonderful strike!

I think players five to ten years ago were just better. So many players now rely on rscket technology to hit the ball hard but actually cant keep the ball between the lines half the time. There are still some really good players though but the mental toughness is lacking

Elena Dementieva couldn't catch a break in Grand Slam Semifinals and Finals. This was definitely a match she should have won

Hi cupid 83 , do you have this full match I would like to pay you , there is one moment that Mary tie her shoes but people said she tie shoes between Elena second serve and first serve. I want to prove them wrong , it was before the first serve

Was the surface faster (in general) 5-10 years ago or was it the fact that the players was so much better then the active players now on the WTA? They strike the ball so much harder/flater and cleaner! Loved Pierce game btw!

Big babe tennis at its best. Slugfest galore! Both of them playing high quality bang bang 🎾!! Fun to watch. Pierce should have won 4 or 5 slams instead of 2. Dementieva is one of the best women never to win a GS.

Now THIS is some fine ballstriking! Man do I miss prime Dementieva....Pierce was a joy to watch as always, dirty tactics or not.

This was a good un!

Dementieva had best pair of gams EVER!

One of Elena's worst loses. She probably still.would ha e lost to Kim in the final but this match was HERS. She'll always be defined by her disappointing moments. And that's a shame. She was soooo good

J'adore Marie et Elaine 😍. отлично! 💗

No she didn't! 2 time finalist, US Open and French Open! She did won a gold medal in the Olympics though! :)

@gmaabs Seems a bit harsh! Obviously you are entitled to your opinion, but I don't reckon she was cheating in this match. The rules allowed it to happen. She was obviously not reaching up for her serve in the first set. She came back after the time out and Elena won that game. Tennis is full of ups and downs and perhaps it was a bit of gamesmanship but not cheating. In the end it was a fair contest between two players on top of their games.

cheated? don't think so.... mary may have played slow and mussed with her hair etc.... but cheat.... never..... she was a very classy lady and she suffered from a lot of physical set backs. i have seen so many more players break the rules and pierce did not. she came into the 2005 open with back issues.... i love dementieva too but pierce won far and square.

@cupidslover3 Me two...for me when she was playing on form she could of beat any player...amazing ground stroke's an basically really good in all areas, I really miss watching her an was so disappointed when her career ended after that injury...she done so well getting back to her best.

i remember this fantastic year ! Mary reached both French and U.S. opens' finales Mary had really tough opponents here - Henin, Mauresmo, Dementieva and Clijsters ! Those 4 were the best players of the moment. Clijsters 's part of the draw was less difficult. One of Mary s best year since she also reached Masters' finale . I was so ashamed to be French since the whole French Fed Cup team was for Mauresmo. Mary beat her a few days before the finale ... but i never understood why Mauresmo (number 2) met Sharapova (2) and Mary (1) met Davenport(1) in the semies ?!? Davenport should have beat Mauresmo and met Mary at the end (?!?)

Cela lui va vraiment bien, le orange, à Elena. Sa robe lui va vraiment bien. Superbe prise de vue sur son service ! Vue du retourneur... Quelle affiche ! Le niveau est là aussi, quand on pense que, même diminuée Mary parvient à une telle résistance, cela nous rappelle son talent très au dessus de la moyenne. On voit les effets de sa blessure ; beaucoup de fautes inhabituelles en coup droit et service. Ce qui est logique quand on regarde où elle a mal. Bisous.

Who is that girl great Mary Pierce is playing here!? How many Slams did she win?

I would of sue the us open for millions on breaking their own rules on the injury time-out

Why does it seem they hit so much harder here than most players do today? The only players today who compare to this power (it seems) are Serena, Maria, Petra, Sabine (on grass), Stosur, Venus, and Camila Giorgi.

Taught here everything she knows, except the serve. Lol :p

Elena dementieva was a great PLAYER didnt stay long in tenis

FOREAL

Clijsters would have clocked Dementieva in quite the same manner.

Mary would've Loved the Challenge System.......to give her more 'stall' time. Brilliant at controlling the playing pace...........gotta hand it to her

I think it is fate at works that Mary Pierce get to reach the final against Clijsters. 2005 is the year of the “Gang of Four” namely the William Sisters and the Belgians to snap and share their slams in the same year. Lindsay, Mary and Maria are the three destined losers are made to support such a cruel reality. An Elena finalist would be a huge spoil for such destiny. Sorry Elena, i know it’s unfair, but that year is not for you to shine.

Mary Pierce won this match because she started to play better at the end and Elena choked, which she had a history of doing. BUT the concurrent injury timeouts and the major delay in the match was absolutely unacceptable

Je me souviens parfaitement de ce match que j'ai vu du début à la fin. Il y a des choses bizarres qui se passent dans le sport de haut niveau. On dit parfois qu'à la guerre tous les moyens sont bons pour gagner.... Quoi qu'on dise, prendre une pause comme Mary l'a fait n'est pas du tout sérieux. Je comprends les déclarations de Elena Dementieva à la fin de ce match. Et je me demande parfois comment le tribunal des sports ne condamne pas ce genre de comportement. Même si elle a battu Elena Dementieva à cette demi finale, je trouve Elena Dementieva meilleure que Mary Pierce. Mary Pierce croyait remporté cet US OPEN à ses 30 ans mais je savais qu'elle ne pouvait pas battre Kim Clijsters qui était en pleine forme à cette époque et qui d'ailleurs lui a infligé une belle fessée......

did Dementieva ever win a Grand Slam ??

Brutality

The Dementieva of old could absolutely RIP the ball... just amazing.

Womens tennis seems to have gone backwards since these days, both massively missed, anyone imagine most of the top 20 and wozniaki living with this?

Womens tennis has become more and more boring to me since 2008/2009. I miss Elena and I miss the top 10 from the late 90s and the 2000s!!

Respectfully disagree: I do agree there is a palpable lack of mental toughness amongst todays elite, however, I think the talent level right now in both Mens and Womens is outrageous.

how did she cheat?

superb hitting from both, and damn I really miss Dementieva, moreover she looks so hot in that dress!

Clijsters took her down in The final. Pierce great player

finally know who's Pierce successor was, Dementia plays so much like Pierce. Artillery tennis.

Oh the medical timeout again!

I have never seen someone run much better after injury lol ... Drama Queen forever.

Dementieva the worst server in tennis. Kept her from wining a slam in my opinion

Things on the players like Pierce and Sharapova, yes they consider pretty in sports world, but what's annoying other player and audiences was too many gestures when they playing. Personally I think Dementieva much more attractive but without all the acting, simply just play the game!

Sore lososer

Elena's body was perfect... but then she added all those muscles and screwed it up. Shame

Elena serve is just awful

Disrespectful handshake from Elena. Elena had a TERRIBLE serve - she got far more from tennis than she deserved, and with her awful serve she would NEVER be a major title winner.

she did cheat. she became a different play all of a sudden

Mary Pierce did not have any injury and used dirty tactics. Elena got her revenge at Fed Cup final.

Pierce deserves to be criticizd here. That was bad sportsmanship on her part.

This match made me lose respect for Mary.

how did she cheat?