Serena Williams continued her smooth lead-up to next week's Australian Open with a comfortable win at the Sydney International Wednesday while Dinara Safina suffered a heavy loss five days before the first grand slam of 2010. Playing her second match in 24 hours after a two-month recess, Williams could hardly have been more dominant as she crushed Russian Vera Dushevina 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour at the Olympic tennis centre. While Williams was an unstoppable force, world No. 2 Safina slumped to a 6-2, 6-3 defeat by fellow Russian Elena Dementieva in a repeat of last year's Sydney final. The match was delayed by two hours because of heavy rain after which Dementieva immediately seized control, winning the first five games on the trot to register her fourth straight win over Safina. “It's always good to have the statistic, but I think every match is very different, especially against Dinara,” Dementieva said. Safina, runner-up to Williams in Melbourne last year, has had a wretched last few months, suffering a back complaint that forced her to miss her planned comeback tournament last week. “I don't think it was a bad match, just a bad start,” Safina said. Williams' opponent in Thursday's semifinals is Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai, who beat Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-0. Dementieva faces Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who booked her spot with a 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova, her third three-setter in as many days. Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, chasing his fifth title in Sydney, is the only seeded player through to the last eight in the men's draw after a day of surprise results. Hewitt sealed his passage in emphatic fashion with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Italian Andreas Seppi to advance to a quarterfinal meeting with Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open finalist who has struggled with injuries in the last year, upset Serbian sixth seed Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-3. The second seed, Czech Tomas Berdych, and eighth-seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany also lost, while third seed Stanislas Wawrinka withdrew before his match against Frenchman Julien Benneteau with a neck problem. Suarez Navarro in last 8 Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro defeated local hope Alicia Molik 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3 Wednesday at the Hobart International, advancing to the quarterfinals. Suarez Navarro will play second-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel, who beat Australian Jelena Dokic 6-2, 6-2 in a later second-round match Wednesday. Earlier Wednesday, Belgian qualifier Kirsten Flipkens beat sixth-seeded Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 7-5, 6-2 for a place in the quarterfinals. Flipkens will play Italy's Sara Errani, who beat third-seeded Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine 7-6 (8), 6
