Her debut for the Russian Fed Cup team Zvonareva began 2008 with a run to the final of the Tier IV Moorilla International, where she had to pull out of the final against Eleni Daniilidou due to an ankle injury, which forced her to retire in her first round at the Australian Open against Ai Sugiyama, trailing 3–6, 1–1. However she played very well in Qatar and has reached the semifinals of the Tier I tournament, beating Dinara Safina and Sybille Bammer on her way there. She defeated Li Na in the semifinals of the Qatar Total Open to reach the final against World No. 5 and 4th seed Maria Sharapova, where Zvonareva was defeated 6–1, 2–6, 6–0 in a rollercoaster finale to the first Tier I event of the year. In March and April, Zvonareva continued her good form at further Tier I tournaments. Participating in the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells; she reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Ana Ivanovi? 6–1, 6–4. Two weeks later she progressed to the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Her bid to reach a third final of the year was thwarted by fourth seed Jelena Jankovi? 6–1, 6–4. Two weeks later she reached her third final and second Tier I final of the year. En route to the finals, she defeated Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva. This was the first time in her career that she defeated two top 10 players in the same tournament. In the final she lost to 5th seed Serena Williams 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. On May 4, 2008, Vera Zvonareva, 23, won her first WTA title in nearly 2 years. She was a 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 winner against third seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the ECM Prague Open for her 6th title and first since Cincinnati in 2006.was in the World Groupzvonareva.jpgZvonareva started to compete on the ITF Circuit in 1999, debuting at an ITF tournament in Tbilisi, Georgia. She qualified for the main draw there. The next year, she won an ITF event in Moscow, Russia without dropping a set, despite being unranked. The event is just the second event she has played in her career. She made her WTA-level debut at Tier I Moscow, beating 148th-ranked Elena Bovina before losing to eleventh-ranked Anna Kournikova in the second round. In 2001, she failed to qualify for WTA events in Miami and Moscow, but reached a semifinal in the ITF Circuit. During this time, she also showed her adeptness in juniors' competition by winning the Orange Bowl under-18s event.
Although Zvonerava made no mistake when it came down to grasping her Olympic opportunity, which she seized with aplomb to grab bronze on her debut and make it an all Russian medal parade. She faced China's Na Li for the bronze, aware that Li had already claimed the scalps of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Venus Williams before bowing out in the semi-finals to Dinara Safina.
Zvonareva won the first Grand Slam title of her career, winning the mixed doubles competition at the US Open. She won one singles title, in Memphis; and reached the final of two other events in the U.S, Cincinnati and Philadelphia, losing to top ten players Lindsay Davenport and Amélie Mauresmo respectively. She produced a remarkable comeback at the Memphis event, playing against home favourite Lisa Raymond, after having been down 5–2 in the third set and saving three match points. She was able to take the next five games and emerged the victor, 4–6, 6–4, 7–5. In addition to this, she reached the semifinal stage of three elite Tier I tournaments in Rome, San Diego, and Montreal. She lost in San Diego to fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina, in a match that featured a final set tie-break that finished 17–15.
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