Black Tennis Pros

SYDNEY — Serena Williams stormed into the semi-finals of the Sydney International on Wednesday, cranking up the heat on her opponents ahead of next week's Australian Open.

The American world number one 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 favourite to lift her fifth Australian Open crown and her 12th Grand Slam, takes on world number 27 Aravane Rezai of France in Thursday's semi-finals.


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, Belarus sixth seed Victoria Azarenka is through to the semi-finals after beating Slovak Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 7-5, while defending champion Elena Dementieva was due to face world number two Dinara Safina later Wednesday.

"I definitely enjoy playing in the heat," Williams said of steamy 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.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Venus Williams had to dig deep to avoid one of the most shocking upsets of her illustrious career as she beat little-known Russian Vera Dushevina 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 in a first-round marathon at the U.S. Open Monday.

Williams was down a set and a service break before hitting her stride late in the match to overpower the 47th-ranked Dushevina before nearly 24,000 fans on Arthur Ahe Stadium.

"I had a lot of help from the fans here," Williams, a two-times winner at Flushing Meadows, said during a courtside interview.

"I felt so much energy from everyone when I was serving to stay in the match in the second set. It feels good to play at home."

The seven-times grand slam winner won the final three games of the second set and first four of the decider against the demoralized 22-year-old Russian.



NEW YORK (AFP) — Some odd things have happened to James Blake in his tennis career, but the 21st-seeded American never had an umpire wipe an advertising logo off his headband until a first-round US Open match on Monday.

Blake defeated Spain's Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 to reach the second round of the year's last Grand Slam event, but he did so without the brand-name logo of his sponsor on the headband, a rules violation.

"I didn't know the rule," Blake said. "I didn't know you couldn't have any writing on the headband or wristband. With the new logo, new design, there's always the logo. I didn't know we couldn't do that."

Blake, a first-round loser this year at Wimbledon and the French Open, was a bit perplexed at the crackdown while sponsor brands adorned most of the surrounding area at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

"I don't know why the ATP does some of the things it does, or if it is just the (International Tennis Federation)," Blake said. "A quarter-inch here, a quarter-inch there, they make all these rules.

"That's for them to deal with, the sponsors and everything. It's not my place to say."

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