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Serena Williams -
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Serena Williams continued her love affair with Melbourne by
easing to an emphatic 6-3 6-4 victory over an in-form Elena
Dementieva to advance to a fourth Australian Open final on
Thursday.
Williams's victory under the closed roof of Rod Laver Arena ended
the fourth seeded Russian's 15-game unbeaten streak in 2009 after
Dementieva had earlier won titles at Auckland and Sydney.
The second seeded American, who had to battle back from a 0-3
deficit in the second set after comfortably taking the first, will
be hoping to continue her flawless record in Australian Open finals
following her three wins from as many appearances.
The 27-year-old Williams will meet another Russian in the title
match, taking on the winner of Thursday's second semi-final between
third seed Dinara Safina and seventh seed Vera Zvonareva.
"I am just really excited to be in the final, I don't care who I
play," Williams said in a courtside interview. "I am just so happy
to get this far all my work has paid off."
When asked how she would prepare for Saturday's final, she quipped:
"Hopefully I will be playing a doubles final on Friday."
"Obviously I want to win doubles, I have the best partner," she
added, referring to sister Venus before praising the crowd.
"You guys are so awesome, come back on Saturday and cheer for me
please."
Closed roof
With Melbourne in the middle of a once-in-a-century heat wave and
the air temperature above 40 degrees Celsius for a second
successive day, organisers invoked the extreme heat policy at 11am
(1pm NZT) and the match began under the closed roof.
The opening two games lasted eight minutes apiece with both players
earning break points as they slugged it out from the
baseline.
Despite the nervous start, Williams had to wait until the eighth
game to assert her authority, breaking Dementieva to earn an
opportunity to serve for the first set.
The nine-time grand slam champion rattled through the game and
sealed the first set in 44 minutes when Dementieva's audacious
backhand drop shot landed narrowly wide.
The start of the second set was as tense as the opener, with the
first game lasting a staggering 14 minutes as Williams fashioned a
string of break points only for Dementieva to snatch the advantage
back and eventually hold after six deuces.
The Russian then broke Williams and jumped out to a 3-0 lead before
the world number two began another of her characteristic fight
backs.
She held to love, then broke Dementieva in the fifth game, despite
suffering a heavy fall when she was wrong-footed by a forehand
drive from the Russian.
Williams then held to level it at 3-3 before neither could hold
serve, with Dementieva breaking once while Williams broke twice to
give her the opportunity to serve for the match.
She managed two massive aces, the second of which prompted a
frustrated squeal from Dementieva and set up match point, then
sealed victory after she ran the Russian around and smashed an
overhand into the open court.
