Serena Williams Wins in Sydney, Elena Dementieva Dumps out Dinara Safina

Medibank International—

World No. 1 Serena Williams advanced to the semifinals in Sydney with a straight sets victory over qualifier Vera Dushevina, but second seed Dinara Safina crashed out to defending champion Elena Dementieva.

Williams looked razor-sharp in her quarterfinal encounter with the 23-year-old Russian, brushing her aside 6-2, 6-2 in little over an hour.

The American broke through in the sixth game of the first set, hitting a clean backhand winner down the line off a Dushevina first serve to take a 4-2 lead. At 2-5 and facing set point, the Russian then handed Williams the set with her second double fault, having led 40-15.

The second set featured more of the same for the world No. 1. She capitalized on a break point in Dushevina’s first service game and although the Russian broke to love at 3-1, Williams held on to the momentum.

A beautiful cross-court forehand in the next game got her immediately back on track, and Dushevina ended the set—and the match—the same way she did in the first...meekly with a double fault.

Take nothing away from Williams’ performance though. She won 88 percent of the points on her first serve, including 14 of 15 in the opening set.

Winning in just 61 minutes, Williams also hit six aces and held Dushevina to just the one break point. With the exception of that one service game and somewhat of a slow start, she was almost faultless.

By contrast, second seeded Safina showed little resistance against compatriot Dementieva, ranked No. 5 in the world.

The defending champion, dressed in a turquoise skirt and matching visor, broke Safina in the first game of the match, winning a battle of cross court forehands where both players were looking to narrow the angle with each stroke of the rally.

As she did in her second round match victory over Agnieszka Radwanska, Safina lost her third consecutive service game of the first set, hitting a forehand long and giving Dementieva a commanding 5-0 lead. Unlike on Tuesday though, Safina’s opponent did not let her back into the match.

Although Dementieva dropped her next serve, she closed out the set at the next opportunity, drawing Safina out wide on the deuce court before lashing a forehand down the line and deep into the opposite corner.

Quick reflexes, hustling defense, and soft hands at the net helped Dementieva to an early break in the second set and from there she never looked back.

After Safina squandered break back points in the following game, Dementieva raced through the rest of the match, completing her 6-2, 6-3 victory in one hour and 37 minutes.

Williams will face Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai in the semifinals after a surprising 6-3, 6-0 victory over Italian Flavia Pennetta.

Pennetta, a finalist in Auckland last week, looked to be in good form to start the year but she had no answer to the 22-year-old who broke her five times and faced only two break points herself.

Rezai, ranked 27th in the world, dropped just three points on her first serve in the 60-minute match, storming past the Italian as if she was a young teenager wet behind the ears.

What will be most concerning to No. 12 Pennetta was her inability to win points on her second serve. Having never lost to Rezai before this contest, she won just 29 percent of them in the opening set and was an awful 0 for 9 in the second when Rezai won 26 of the 34 total points.

Dementieva will face Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals after the Belarusian came from a set down to rally past Dominika Cibulkova 2-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Azarenka, seeded sixth and ranked seventh, looked lost in the opening set as she dropped her serve on three out of four occasions and quickly found herself down 6-2.

She was much better in the second set, dominating points on her first serve and attacking Slovakian Cibulkova at every opportunity. With the score all level, the match went into a deciding set.

Both players had ample opportunities to win the match and both seemingly contrived to throw it away.

Azarenka lost half of the games on her serve, while Cibulkova dropped four of her six. Azarenka was the least worst and she edged her way into a semifinal berth with a 7-5 victory in two hours and 19 minutes. With Dementieva looking in good form, the world No. 7 will have to play a lot better than this if she has any hopes of a spot in Friday’s final.

Moorilla Hobart International

Second seed Shahar Peer cruised in to the quarterfinals in Hobart with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 victory over Jelena Dokic, but No. 3 Kateryna Bondarenko lost in straight sets to Italian Sara Errani.

There were also victories for No. 5 seed Carla Suarez Navarro, who edged Aussie wildcard Alicia Molik, and for qualifier Kirsten Flipkens who was victorious over sixth seed Aleksandra Wozniak.

Peer needed just 55 minutes to see off Dokic, who contributed heavily to her own downfall with a string of poor service games that included eight double faults and four breaks.

Peer on the other hand was consistent throughout, playing above what her No. 30 ranking suggests against someone who is clearly low in confidence right now.

The Israeli will face Suarez Navarro in the quarterfinals after a grueling battle against the hometown favourite.

Molik, ranked 186th in the world gave the 21-year-old Spaniard a severe run for her money before losing 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3.

Navarro won the opening set on a tiebreak after neither woman could consistently hold serve, but Molik was much stronger in the second. She faced just one break point and served well, clawing her way back into the match and forcing a decider.

Suarez Navarro proved too strong in the end though as Molik ran out of gas in the heat. The quaterfinal against Peer should be a good battle between two similar players who match up very well.

In the other quarter of the draw, two unseeded players will fight for a spot in Thursday’s semifinals.

Errani surprised No. 3 seed Bondarenko 7-6(8), 6-4 and the Belgian Flipkens crept by Wozniak 7-5, 6-2.

In the top half of the draw, top seed Annabel Medina Garrigues will play No. 8 Gisela Dulko while Alona Bondarenko will lock horns with Jie Zheng.