Two a penny

.Russia’s Elena Dementieva has won the Paris Indoors WTA tournament for the first time in her ninth attempt, defeating Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-4 in the final.
The top seed dropped a tightly-contested first set when Safarova, 23, powered a forehand past her to take the tie-break 7-5, but she was in total command in the second as her heavy ground strokes kept Safarova pinned back.
She had been the losing finalist here last year, going down to the now retired Amelie Mauresmo of France
“I have been trying to win this tournament for so many years – it’s been one of the most difficult wins of my career and I am so happy,” she said.
The 28-year-old Russian, who won the Olympic title in Beijing in 2008, grabbed an early break in the third set and held on to win her second WTA title of the year after Sydney. .
“You have to fight to the very end and if you fight for every point anything can happen.
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Dementieva, who has yet to win a grand slam title, was one of the favourites at the Australian Open in January but she was drawn against wildcard Justine Henin in the second round and lost in straight sets to the Belgian

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Police are monitoring the internet for video footage of an attack on French rugby player Mathieu Bastareaud at the weekend.

Did you witness the attack in central Wellington early yesterday? Email the Stuff newsroom at newstips@stuff.co.

The 20-year-old centre was so badly injured by the apparently unprovoked assault he had to return home and miss his team’s test against the Wallabies this weekend.nz

Bastareaud suffered a suspected broken eye socket and needed four stitches to his face after a group of four or five men attacked him in central Wellington early yesterday.

Wellington area commander Inspector Pete Cowan said it was possible one of the attackers may have recorded the incident on a cellphone and police were monitoring the internet in case any footage surfaced.

Police said they spoke with Bastareaud today, but his recollection of the attack was bleary.

Bastareaud was targeted as he went to get a taxi to take him back to the team’s hotel just hours after France’s 14-10 second test defeat by New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Rugby World Cup organisers said they would take the attack into account when deciding what security measures would be put in place during the tournament in 2011. .

“That involves a number of levels of risk assessment and the number of levels of planning – both around the tournament itself, but around the individual teams,” he said.

Rugby New Zealand 2011 general manager for tournament services Nigel Cass told they were working with police on the development of high-level security framework for the World Cup tournament.”

He hoped New Zealand’s safe reputation had not been badly tarnished since the attack on Bastareaud.

“Clearly the events over the weekend are just another factor that we’ll need to take into account in terms of that high level planning.

“We’ll be working very hard both to ensure the teams and the fans that come here from offshore are safe, but also to encourage New Zealanders to take their responsibilities as hosts very seriously.

“We’ll be working very hard both to ensure the teams and the fans that come here from offshore are safe, but also to encourage New Zealanders to take their responsibilities as hosts very seriously.

However, all teams would also be receiving protocols on how to stay safe during the tournament, Mr Cass said.

New Zealand and touring fans needed to adopt that ethos, he said.