MELBOURNE, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- American second seed Serena Williams and Russia's world number four Elena Dementieva both reached the Australian Open semifinals but followed different path in Wednesday's quarterfinals.
Dementieva, a semifinalist at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last season, reached the last four after another easy win, dispatching Spanish dark horse Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2.
While the American, looking to win her fourth Australian Open crown, had to dig deeper after losing the first set 7-5 to Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The roof of the Rod Laver Area was closed after the opening set under the heat policy, which seemed to be in Williams' favor as the tough player muscled back into her game en route to her stunning comeback 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 victory.
Dementieva, who had to work hard amid extreme heat on a sweltering noon, complained to the media that the heat policy should be applied ahead of her match, saying that it is not only for the players, but for the spectators as well.
The temperature soared to 41 degrees and it will last until the weekend, which is the hottest week of the month, the weather forecast said.
Dementieva was troubled again by her infamous double faults, committing ten this time, but still mastered her opponent in only one hour and 33 minutes.
The Russian, 27, who is still looking for her first career Grand Slam title, appeared quite efficient on breaking points, converting on four out of five breaking chances, while the Spaniard, seven years the Russian's junior, had to improve on big points performance after failing to make use of any of her ten breaking opportunities.
Maybe it looks easy. But I think for such a score like 6-2, 6-2, we're playing one and a half hour, which is a pretty long match, the Russian said.
It was very tough to play because of the weather condition. Also, I mean, she is very strong physically, you know, very fit player. Playing for the first time, I didn't know what to expect from her, she added.
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