Rain break nearly de-rails Dementieva

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) Russian Elena Dementieva was given a second-set scare by France's Nathalie Dechy at Wimbledon today before making it through to the second round.

The tall 12th seed eventually won 6-2 7-6 but was mightily relieved to avoid being dragged into a decider after Dechy made a real fight of it in the second set.

Dementieva, who had her best Wimbledon last year when she reached the quarter-final, dominated the first set from the baseline and broke in the first game of the second when light rain forced the players off court.

When they returned Dechy, the world number 48, played far more aggressively and Dementieva wavered when serving for the match at 5-4 and was forced into a tiebreak.

Dechy moved into a 6-2 lead but failed to capitalise and Dementieva battled grimly to fend off four set points and sneak through to a second round against Czech Iveta Benesova.

''It was tough to come back after the break because she came out with nothing to lose and played a bit different,'' Demetieva, a former runner-up at the French and US Opens, said.

''After that I lost my rhythm a bit and it was a real fight and I had to save all those set points.'' Apart from her suspect serve which occasionally let her down Dementieva looked sharp and free from the niggling rib injury that has sidelined her for stretches of the season.

''The ribs feel a lot better now and that injury is no longer a problem,'' said Dementieva. ''It's nice to get the first match out of the way though after waiting all day yesterday.'' REUTERS BJR KP2102