Serena Williams into Sydney semifinals
Published:Wednesday | January 13, 2010 | 12:22 PM
Top-ranked Serena Williams advanced to the semifinals at the Sydney International with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Vera Dushevina in windy conditions today.
Williams, playing her only warmup tournament ahead of her title defense at the Australian Open, next plays France\'s Aravane Rezai, who had a 6-3, 6-0 win over Italian Flavia Pennetta.
Elena Dementieva had to wait out a two hour delay for rain at the start of the night session before ousting second-ranked Dinara Safina 6-2, 6-3 in a repeat of the outcome of last year\'s Sydney final.
On the men\'s side, Lleyton Hewitt started his bid for a fifth Sydney title with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Italian Andreas Seppi, reaching the quarterfinals with one 55-minute victory.
Hewitt next plays 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, who ousted sixth-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia 7-5, 6-3.
Another Australian advanced to the quarterfinals when Peter Luczak had an upset 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over second-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
Also advancing were Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet.