AGL 38.16 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.16%)
AIRLINK 134.19 Increased By ▲ 5.22 (4.05%)
BOP 8.85 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (12.74%)
CNERGY 4.69 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.64%)
DCL 8.67 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (4.21%)
DFML 39.78 Increased By ▲ 0.84 (2.16%)
DGKC 85.15 Increased By ▲ 3.21 (3.92%)
FCCL 34.90 Increased By ▲ 1.48 (4.43%)
FFBL 75.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.15%)
FFL 12.74 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.62%)
HUBC 109.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.91 (-0.82%)
HUMNL 14.10 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.64%)
KEL 5.40 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (4.85%)
KOSM 7.75 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.04%)
MLCF 41.37 Increased By ▲ 1.57 (3.94%)
NBP 69.70 Decreased By ▼ -2.62 (-3.62%)
OGDC 193.62 Increased By ▲ 5.33 (2.83%)
PAEL 26.21 Increased By ▲ 0.58 (2.26%)
PIBTL 7.42 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.68%)
PPL 163.85 Increased By ▲ 11.18 (7.32%)
PRL 26.36 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (3.82%)
PTC 19.47 Increased By ▲ 1.77 (10%)
SEARL 84.40 Increased By ▲ 1.98 (2.4%)
TELE 7.99 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (5.27%)
TOMCL 34.05 Increased By ▲ 1.48 (4.54%)
TPLP 8.72 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (3.56%)
TREET 17.18 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (2.38%)
TRG 61.00 Increased By ▲ 4.96 (8.85%)
UNITY 28.96 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (0.63%)
WTL 1.37 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (1.48%)
BR100 10,786 Increased By 127.6 (1.2%)
BR30 32,266 Increased By 934.6 (2.98%)
KSE100 100,083 Increased By 813.5 (0.82%)
KSE30 31,193 Increased By 160.9 (0.52%)

Serena Williams continued her smooth lead-up to next week's Australian Open with a comfortable win at the Sydney International on 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.
"I definitely don't think I played my best, but that's comforting to know," the world number one said. "Hopefully, I have a long way to go, which I think is always good." While Williams was an unstoppable force, world number two 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. "That's what we all are looking for here, to play against top players and get this match confidence."
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. "If I played the first set like the second set, it could have been a different result. "My game is there. I just have to practice a bit more before the Australian Open." Williams' opponent in Thursday's semi-finals is Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai, who beat Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-3 6-0.

Copyright Reuters, 2010

Comments

Comments are closed.