KEY POINTS:
Shortly after Saturday's ASB Classic final, champion Elena Dementieva and vanquished opponent Elena Vesnina had a chat about their experiences in Auckland. The pair had flown here on the same flight, trained together, played doubles together and eventually contested the final together.
By all accounts, it was a
great week for the Russian starlets. "We said, 'for sure, we need to come back here'," Vesnina said.
After making the first singles final of her career and providing a much-needed boost to her world ranking of 76, Vesnina will almost certainly return.
Dementieva, too, could well be back, although, as a regular top-10 player and reigning Olympic champion, she will have other suitors.
If she does return, the biggest challenge for the tournament's organisers will be finding a worthy opponent.
After her comfortable 6-4, 6-1 victory, Dementieva spoke glowingly of the tough matches she had played, but she was just being polite.
An early first-round scare against Yung-Jan Chan aside, she was never seriously tested in sweeping serenely to her 12th WTA title.
The illness-enforced pre-tournament withdrawal of fellow headliners Nadia Petrova and Katerina Srebotnik certainly played a part in that, as did Vesnina's semifinal upset of world No 12 Caroline Wozniacki.
The Dane may have had the game to challenge Dementieva but Vesnina always appeared too erratic to trouble her metronomic countrywoman.
In the final, Vesnina burst out of the blocks and established a 3-1 first lead before wilting to lose 11 of the next 13 games in a 1h 27m defeat.
The turning point came with Dementieva digging herself out of a 0-40 hole in the fifth game of the first set. When Vesnina then blew a 40-0 lead on her own serve the contest was only ever going one way.
"I was a little bit upset about that," Vesnina said of the spurned opportunity to go up a double break in the first set. "I lost more than three games from being up 40-0. After that game Elena started to play better, more aggressive. And then on my serve I was a maybe a little bit passive.
"It is very hard to play against her when she hits the ball so hard. She is a very good runner and she reaches every ball. On the last ball, the last shot, I was not confident."
Vesnina's serve, her biggest weapon in reaching the final, deserted her completely. "I don't know what happened with my serve. I was complaining about everything - no wind, no sun, perfect, but I couldn't put the ball in the court.
"Maybe I was a bit tired. It was a long week with a lot of long matches. And maybe I was a bit nervous. Altogether, my serve didn't work."
Despite the defeat, the tournament was a triumph for Vesnina, who showed she has the game to make swift progress up the rankings.
"I think I grew up over this tournament. And I think my game level is a step up from what it was before. It was amazing to be in the final. Even though I lost and I am bit sad, it is still a big step forward for me."
For Dementieva, the question is whether she received a tough enough level of competition to prime for an assault at her first Grand Slam title in Melbourne.
"I hope so," she said. "No matter how I play [in Melbourne] it was a good week here. To come here and win the first title of the year feels great. I felt like I improved a lot and played some good tennis."
