SYDNEY: Elena Dementieva remained on course to defend her Sydney International title with a convincing 6-2, 6-3 win over world No. 2 Dinara Safina in an all-Russian quarterfinal on Wednesday.
In a night match delayed by rain, fifth seed Dementieva continued her dominance over Safina with wins in their last four encounters, including last year’s Sydney final.
Dementieva will now face sixth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in Thursday’s semis.
“Tonight Dinara had a slow start, but I was ready for the game and ready for the fight,” Dementieva said.
“She’s a big girl, so she’s a big hitter. You have to be ready for her to be very aggressive on the court. Sometimes you have to play defensive.
“She never gives up and she was pretty tough in the second set after losing such an easy first set.” Earlier, world number one Serena Williams tossed aside Russian Vera Dushevina 6-2, 6-2, making it just seven games she has dropped on her way to the last four of the Sydney tournament.
Williams, strong favorite to lift her fifth Australian Open crown and her 12th Grand Slam, takes on world number 27 Aravane Rezai of France in the other semi-final.
Rezai won her third match of the tournament against Italian Flavia Pennetta, 6-3, 6-0 on Wednesday.
In the bottom half of the draw, Azarenka went through to the semi-finals after beating Slovak Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 7-5.
“I definitely enjoy playing in the heat,” Williams said of Melbourne, home to the Open. “I usually enjoy playing in the heat. I live in Florida, so it’s all about hot weather there.
“So I think maybe that’s one of the reasons why I do so well down here.
“The past couple of times I won it’s been extremely hot, so I expect the same temperatures again.” Asked during her post-match press conference how close she was to her best form, Williams said: “I always try to get there usually around the semi-finals and finals of the Grand Slams.
“I’m just doing the best that I can now to get there. Hopefully I have a long way to go, which I think is always good.” Williams said she was expecting her toughest match of the week against Rezai.
“I haven’t played her, but I know her game,” she said. “I played her in doubles and (sister) Venus has played her before.
“She’s a good player and she’s really young. She has a lot of drive. I think she can be really good. It’ll definitely be my toughest match yet.” Azarenka had to again work hard to stay alive in the tournament, taking two hours 20 minutes to extinguish the challenge of the 24th-ranked Cibulkova.
So far Azarenka has been taken to three sets in all her three matches at the tournament.
Injured Ferrero out
Meanwhile, former world No.1 Juan Carlos Ferrero limped out of the Heineken Open with an ankle injury Wednesday, leaving him a major doubt for next week’s Australian Open.
The loss of the third seed, as he trailed Swiss qualifier Michael Lammer 3-1 in the first set, followed the withdrawal from the Auckland event on Monday of Argentina’s David Nalbandian with an abdominal injury. “They say it’s not too bad, I will have to wait three or four days with some ice, take some anti-inflammatories and see how it goes,” Ferrero told reporters.
“I want to play over there so I will do everything in my power to make it, but we’ll see. I cannot tell you now.”
World-ranked 209 Lammer now faces a quarterfinal against eighth seed Albert Montanes, who beat local hope Rubin Statham 7-6, 6-2.
Other seeds to depart in the second round included No. 2 David Ferrer of Spain, who went down 7-5, 6-4 in a surprise loss to Frenchman Arnaud Clement.
Seventh seed Juan Monaco and Spanish compatriot and fourth seed Nicolas Almagro were also eliminated as the line-up for the quarterfinals was decided.
Tall American John Isner served 11 aces and five breaks of serve to beat Monaco 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
France’s Marc Gicquel, ranked 58 in the world, ensured a miserable day for 26th-ranked Almagro with a 6-0, 6-3 thrashing.
Spanish top seed Tommy Robredo, coming off a Hopman Cup victory in Perth, was not at his best but good enough to clinch a quarterfinal spot with a hard-fought 7-6, 7-6 win over German Simon Greul.
Fifth-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber stayed on course to repeat his 2008 Heineken Open victory with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.
