SYDNEY: Top-ranked Serena Williams advanced to the Sydney International semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Vera Dushevina of Russia today.

Dushevina sprayed a forehand wide to give Williams two match points and then double-faulted to finish the match in exactly an hour in a swirling breeze at the Sydney 2000 Olympics venue. Williams, playing her only warmup tournament ahead of her title defense at the Australian Open, next plays France’s Aravane Rezai, who had a 6-3, 6-0 win over Italian Flavia Pennetta.

Serena said the strong breeze was a relief after a hot opening win here, although experiencing both conditions was a good test before the season’s first major starts Monday at Melbourne Park. “It was really windy out there, but it’s good to have a good result in the wind,” she said. “I definitely don’t think I played my best, but that’s comforting to know that today wasn’t my best.”

Until this week, Serena hadn’t played a tournament since beating her sister Venus in the season-ending championship final in Doha on November 1. She said she had a lot of improving to do, and was aiming to be peaking at the end of the month. “I always try to get there usually around the semi-finals and finals of the Grand Slams,” the 11-time major winner said. “I’m just doing the best that I can now to get there. Hopefully I have long way to go, which I think is always good.”

Sixth-seeded Victoria Azarenka advanced 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 over Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova and will meet Olympic gold medallist Elena Dementieva, who defeated World No 2 Dinara Safina 6-2, 6-3 in the all-Russian quarter-final.

On the men’s side, Lleyton Hewitt started his bid for a fifth Sydney title with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Italian Andreas Seppi. Former top-ranked Hewitt won six straight games, then overcame an early service break in the second set and won six straight games to finish when Seppi double-faulted at match point.

Fourth-seeded Hewitt, a former US Open and Wimbledon champion, squared his career head-to-heads at 2-all with Seppi. “I’ve had match points against him and ended up losing — that scoreline today looks a lot better,” Hewitt said. Hewitt next plays 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, who ousted sixth-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia 7-5, 6-3, in the quarter-final.

Another Australian advanced to the quarter-finals when Peter Luczak had an upset 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over second-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic. Also advancing were Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet — who beat eighth-seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-2, 7-6 (4) — and American Mardy Fish, a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Russia’s Evgency Korolev.