(Sports Network) - Top seeds Serena Williams, Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva were a trio of quarterfinal winners Wednesday at the $600,000 Medibank International, a final Australian Open tune-up.
The top-seeded and former world No. 1 Williams saved two match points in order to outlast eighth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in 2 hours, 40 minutes on the hardcourts at Sydney Olympic Park. The American staved off a pair of match points in the 12th game of the final set before moving on. She had to save four match points in her first-round match here against Aussie crowd favorite Samantha Stosur.
The U.S. Open champion Williams will face the third-seeded Dementieva in Thursday's semifinals, as the Olympic gold medalist from Russia held off sixth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 on Day 4. The hot Dementieva is fresh off her hardcourt title in Auckland last week.
A second-seeded Safina, meanwhile, handled France's Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-4, as last year's French Open and Olympic runner-up will meet veteran Japanese Ai Sugiyama in Thursday's final four action. The unseeded Sugiyama reached the semis via walkover when fifth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova pulled out of the draw due to an abdominal strain. Kuznetsova was last year's Sydney runner- up to retired Belgian great Justine Henin.
The 2009 Sydney champ will pocket $98,500.
Source:
http://www.wjla.com
The top-seeded and former world No. 1 Williams saved two match points in order to outlast eighth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in 2 hours, 40 minutes on the hardcourts at Sydney Olympic Park. The American staved off a pair of match points in the 12th game of the final set before moving on. She had to save four match points in her first-round match here against Aussie crowd favorite Samantha Stosur.
The U.S. Open champion Williams will face the third-seeded Dementieva in Thursday's semifinals, as the Olympic gold medalist from Russia held off sixth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 on Day 4. The hot Dementieva is fresh off her hardcourt title in Auckland last week.
A second-seeded Safina, meanwhile, handled France's Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-4, as last year's French Open and Olympic runner-up will meet veteran Japanese Ai Sugiyama in Thursday's final four action. The unseeded Sugiyama reached the semis via walkover when fifth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova pulled out of the draw due to an abdominal strain. Kuznetsova was last year's Sydney runner- up to retired Belgian great Justine Henin.
The 2009 Sydney champ will pocket $98,500.
Source:
http://www.wjla.com