28 January,2009 08:57 AM IST | | AFP
Russia's fourth seed Elena Dementieva overpowered Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-2, 6-2 in scorching heat on Wednesday to reach the Australian Open semi-finals for the first time.
Dementieva, 27, had never been past the fourth round of the Open in 10 previous attempts.
But she underlined why she was one of the pre-tournament favourites with her straight sets demolition of the unseeded Spaniard in temperatures reaching 39.5 degrees Celsius (103 F).
"There were a couple of hot days up in Sydney but it gets much hotter on the centre court so I'm glad to have won in two sets," she said.
Suarez Navarro caused one of the shocks of the tournament when she dumped Venus Williams in the second round, but she could not repeat that type of form against an opponent who remains unbeaten in three tournaments this year.
The Russian will now play either Serena Williams or Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semi-finals, keeping alive hopes of an all-Russian Grand Slam final for the first time in history.
Dinara Safina and Vera Zvonareva play the other semi-final tomorrow.
