Dementieva is the form player going into the Australian Open

Elena Dementieva continued her impressive preparation for the Australian Open by thrashing Serena Williams at the Sydney International.

The Russian beat world number two Williams 6-3 6-1 to set up a final against compatriot Dinara Safina, who saw off Ai Sugiyama 6-4 7-6 7-3).

In the men's event, top seed Novak Djokovic beat Mario Ancic 6-3 6-4 and the Serb meets Jarkko Nieminen next.

Richard Gasquet and David Nalbandian made it to the other semi-final.

Gasquet defeated fellow Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-2 7-6 (7-4), while Nalbandian beat Lleyton Hewitt 7-6 (7-3) 7-5.

606: DEBATE When does Serena ever give her opponent credit? repoman1966

Djokovic came through despite a delay of almost two hours as temperatures of 41C pre-empted a heavy downpour.

"I was thinking it would be better for both of us, whoever wins the match, to end up tonight so he can rest for the semi-final," said Djokovic.

"I think as a winner I can say it's much better to finish tonight."

Dementieva, who won the title in Auckland last week, has now won nine consecutive matches.

She will head to Melbourne confident of improving on her record at the Australian Open, where she has not got past the fourth round in 10 attempts.

"I've done a lot of good work," said the Olympic champion. "I think all these big results from last year have really given me a lot confidence.

"I'm just playing with lots of confidence, which is great."

Williams, a three-time Australian Open champion, said: "I wasn't moving as I wanted to today. I gave it away more than anything.

"I made a lot of errors and made her look like a champ, really. I just pretty much gave her the match."

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