Serena Williams will face big sister Venus in the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championship after both advanced with straight-set wins Thursday. The top-seeded Serena beat eighth-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, and Venus defeated defending champion Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-3. “We are both the best players on the tour right now,” said Serena, who is 9-9 against her older sister. “Obviously, we both are also playing our best tennis right now, which definitely makes our matches more exciting.” Also, Virginie Razzano of France upset fifth-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia 7-6 (7), 7-5, and 16th-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia beat Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina 6-3, 7-5. Djokovic struggles In Marseille, top seed Novak Djokovic overcame tenacious Czech Jan Hernych 7-5, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the Marseille Open on Thursday. Djokovic next meets German Mischa Zverev, who beat Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. Second seed Gilles Simon found the going even harder than Djokovic in his 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over German Rainer Schuettler. Simon next faces fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who also booked his place in the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 win over Swiss lucky loser George Bastl. Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overpowered Italy's Simone Bolelli 6-3, 6-2. Tsonga meets Spain's Feliciano Lopez in the quarterfinals. Michael Llodra ousted fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 7-6 (1) to take on Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. Hewitt upsets Blake In Tennessee, Australia's Lleyton Hewitt upset third-seeded James Blake of the US 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championship on Wednesday. Top-seed Andy Roddick took care of his serve in the first set, then ousted defending tournament champion Steve Darcis of Belgium, 7-6 (1), 6-2, in the day's last match. Earlier, the top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark rolled into the quarterfinals of the women's draw with a 6-1, 7-6 (1) victory over Severine Bremond of France. In other men's matches,fifth-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic defeated Kevin Kim of the US 6-4, 6-2, American No. 7 Mardy Fish scored a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan and eighth-seeded Sam Querrey of the US earned a 7-6 (4) 6-4 win over Germany's Tommy Haas. Philipp Petzschner of Germany defeated Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3, 6-4, while Robby Ginepri of the US defeated Simon Greul of Germany 6-4, 6-4. On the women's side Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic eliminated Vania King of the US 7-6 (1), 6-3; Anne Keothavong of Britain beat Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal 7-6 (2), 6-4; Sabine Lisicki of Germany beat France's Stephanie Foretz 6-1, 6-4, and Pauline Parmentier of France beat Chanelle Scheepers 6-4, 6-1. Nalbandian in quarters In Argentina, defending champion David Nalbandian put away Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 7-5, 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal with Juan Carlos Ferrero at the Copa Telmex on Wednesday. Former No. 1 Ferrero beat Marcel Granollers 6-7 (7), 6-0, 6-3 to reach quarterfinals.
