Elena Dementieva stunned the tennis world on Friday by announcing her retirement after her final match at the WTA Championships.

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Dementieva lost her final round-robin match to Francesca Schiavone and then revealed afterwards  that it had been her final competitive encounter.

This is my last tournament," she told the crowd in Doha. "Thank you to all of the people that I have worked with for such a long time. I would like to thank all of the players for an amazing experience. It's very emotional.”

"I would like to thank all of the people around the world for supporting me through my career. And I would like to thank my family, especially my mum. It's so hard to say goodbye to all of you. I want you to know that I am going to miss you so much. Thank you."

Dementieva won 16 career titles and reached two Grand Slam finals at the French Open and US Open in 2004 but the highlight of her illustrious career came at the Beijing Olympics where she beat Serena Williams, Vera Zvonareva and Dinara Safina to take the gold medal.

She helped lead the way for the new wave of Russian stars at the start of the last decade and has remained a consistent figure at the top of the game since then, spending 328 weeks inside the top ten, an amazing record of longevity.

After her success in Beijing, many speculated whether Dementieva could finally make that elusive breakthrough and win a slam. She came close at Wimbledon 2009, losing an epic semi-final to Serena Williams in a match regarded as one of the best in recent years.