Australian Open: Serena Williams advances

MELBOURNE, Australia — American Serena Williams shrugged off the searing heat and beat second-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-2, 6-2 yesterday at the Australian Open to set up a semifinal showdown against Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova.

Williams, who won the Australian Open championship in 2003 but couldn't defend the title last year because of a knee injury, slammed 23 winners and needed 71 minutes to eliminate Mauresmo.

"I feel great," the No. 7 seed said. "I played really well — I was just really focused."

Williams converted break-point chances twice in each set against Mauresmo, who had 27 unforced errors and was hampered by a thigh injury.

Williams didn't win a major title in 2004. She lost the Wimbledon final — as the two-time defending champion — to Sharapova.

Russians have won the last three women's titles at Grand Slam tournaments, and two of those champions met in a quarterfinal at Melbourne Park.

Sharapova overcame U.S. Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, with both players struggling in the heat.

Kuznetsova failed to hold any of her last eight service games and gave the 17-year-old Sharapova a match point with a double fault.

Sharapova, whose screeching seemingly increased with every shot, whipped a cross-court winner to close out the match in 2 hours, 17 minutes. She dropped her racket and flung both arms in the air.

"I need a wheelchair right now," said Sharapova, seemingly on the verge of exhaustion. "Just mentally, I tried to tough it out."

The temperature at the start of the match was 87 degrees, and rose to 91, but a warm, dry wind made it feel hotter.

Williams raced through her quarterfinal and said heat wasn't a big factor. While her match was in progress on center court, matches on outside courts were suspended under the tournament's extreme-heat policy.

Organizers won't allow matches to start after the temperature reaches 95 degrees, and other factors, including humidity and the temperature on court, reach set limits.

Williams said she was looking forward to a rematch with Sharapova, who has won their last two encounters.

Sharapova and Kuznetsova took a 10-minute break between the second and third sets. During breaks between games, they put ice packs and wet towels on their necks.

Each constantly walked into the small patches of shade.

"It was so hot — on the court, it's very, very hot," Sharapova said. "I just try to concentrate on what I have to do ... block it out. But it was one of the toughest (matches) of my life."

Kuznetsova finished with 53 unforced errors and got less than half of her first serves into play, allowing Sharapova to pounce on second serves.

"It was just terrible," Kuznetsova said. "I was very focused and I play very well first set. And after, something happened, so I just stopped. I mean, like my body was there but my mind wasn't there at all. It was just, I don't know, ball boy playing out there."

Sharapova seemed to be struggling the most, leaning on her racket and hanging her head, then coming out to try to convert the heat into steam in her shots. Kuznetsova often found herself waiting to serve while Sharapova slowly made her way to return.

No. 8 Venus Williams, Serena's sister, lost to No. 10 Alicia Molik of Australia 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) in the fourth round.

Molik will face top-ranked Lindsay Davenport of the United States in the quarterfinals.

In a men's fourth-round match that ended early yesterday, No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia beat 18-year-old Rafael Nadal of Spain 7-5, 3-6, 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.

No. 4 Marat Safin of Russia beat 20th-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in the first of the men's quarterfinals.

Today's quarterfinal action includes a matchup of top-ranked Roger Federer and Andre Agassi.