AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Venue: Melbourne Park Date: 18-31 January
Coverage: Every Andy Murray match live on BBC 1 or 2
Daily from 0830 GMT: live on BBC Red Button/website, 5 Live sports extra
Daily from 0000 GMT: text commentary on BBC Sport website
 Serena is aiming to defend her Australian Open title from next week |
Top seed Serena Williams had to save a match point before recovering to beat Avarane Rezai and book a place in the final of the Sydney International. Rezai served for the match at 5-3 in the second set but Williams rallied to win the next five games before finally sealing the match 3-6 7-5 6-4. The defending Australian Open champion will face Russia's Elena Dementieva in Friday's final. Dementieva saw off sixth-seed Victoria Azarenka 6-3 6-1 in the other semi. Dementieva, who won the Sydney International last year, says she expects the final to be a closely fought encounter between two players with genuine hopes of success at the upcoming Australian Open, starting on 18 January. "I expect a tough match, she's a great champion," said Dementieva. "I just hope it's going to be a good match for both of us, and good preparation for the Open." Williams received a thorough test of her credentials from French world number 24 Rezai in Thursday's thrilling semi-final.  | 606: DEBATE |
And the 28-year-old had to show all her battling qualities to come back from match point down before taking charge of the match. "Was I down that far? I didn't even realise," admitted Williams. "I don't think she lost her way at all. I felt like I literally lifted my game at that point, because I knew I was going to be headed to Melbourne (for the Australian Open) if I didn't. "I kept thinking that I wanted to get a little more practice, and didn't want it to end now." The American also recovering from breaks in the first and seventh games of the third set before claiming victory. "That was good because she played really hard, like a top player," added Serena. "That was really good preparation." In the men's quarter-finals, Australia's Leyton Hewitt was beaten 4-6 6-2 6-3 by Marcos Baghdatis, ending the former world number one's attempts to win his fifth Sydney title. Former Australian Open finalist Baghdatis will play the winner of the quarter-final between Peter Luczak and Mardy Fish being played later on Thursday. In the other two quarter-finals Richard Gasquet of France had a 6-3 7-6 (9-7) win over Italy's Potito Starace and Frenchman Julien Benneteau beat Argentina's Leonardo Mayer 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-0.
| 
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?