体坛英语新闻：Safina to face Williams in Australian Open final

MELBOURNE, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- World number three Dinara Safina defeated fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 7-6(4) on Thursday to set up an Australian Open women's singles final against American Serena Williams.

    Safina held nerves to beat a second set challenge from her opponent to take the match in one hour and 45 minutes.

Dinara Safina of Russia returns the ball during the women's singles semifinal match against Vera Zvonareva of Russia at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Jan. 29, 2009. Safina won the match 2-0

The gritty Russian, who reached her second Grand Slam final, now has the chance of following her elder brother Marat in winning the Australian Open.

    "I remember watching my brother on TV winning the championship. It's great that I can follow his footsteps," Safina said. "He was my idol and he still is my idol. It will be amazing if I could repeat what he has done."

    World number two Williams outplayed Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-4 in the other semifinal.

    The Russian finally saw her 15-match-winning streak come to a halt after the semifinal clash where Dementieva's solid ground-strokes were marred again by her infamous serving.

    The 27-year-old Russian, who enjoyed her best season last year with the best possible chance of winning her first Grand Slam herein Melbourne, landed only 57 percent of her first serve and hit eight double faults.

    "Dementieva is great on the run. That's why she's been doing so well. And today I thought, I have to be good on the run, too. I know I play my best tennis when I'm on the run," said Williams.

    "I definitely wanted to play better than I did the last few times I played her. Just wanted to do some different things. The last few times I played her, I didn't play that well and I was stuck," she added.

    Third seed Safina was somewhat erratic but almost always dictating play against her seventh-seeded countrywoman, hitting over twice as many winners (28-13) but also over twice as many errors (42-19) during the match.

    Zvonareva did serve for the second set leading 6-5 but was broken easily, and Safina capped the win with a routine 7-4 tie-break, ending it with a scorching forehand.

    In the final, if Safina wins she will take over from Serb Jelena Jankovic as the world number one, as will Williams if she wins.