Serena rallies to reach Sydney semis

SYDNEY, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Serena Williams saved two match points and outlasted Caroline Wozniacki Wednesday to reach the semifinals of the Medibank International in Sydney.

Russians Dinara Safina, seeded No. 2 and Elena Dementieva, No. 3, and Japan's Ai Sugiyama also moved on to the semis.

Williams dropped the first set and battled back for a 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory in a match that lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes at Sydney Olympic Park.

The veteran American star saved the match points in the 12th game of the final set against her 18-year-old foe from Denmark.

Williams' semifinal opponent will be Dementieva, who survived a tough battle with No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 .

Safina will play Sugiyama in the other semifinal match. Safina advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 win over France's Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-4 and Sugiyama won on a walkover when her opponent, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova , withdrew because of an abdominal strain.