<p> <br />The Australian Open champion was teetering on the brink of defeat after losing the first set and trailing 5-2 in the second but she raised her game to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. "I was lucky to get through today," American Williams told reporters. "I'm just super mentally tough, I feel like that's definitely one of my strengths." <br /><br />While Williams had to dig deep, Dementieva had no real problems winning her semifinal against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Dementieva cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory at the Olympic tennis centre to remain on course to defend her title. <br /><br />"I was trying to be very aggressive from the beginning of the match," Dementieva said. <br />Williams was well below her best against Rezai but used all her big-match experience to turn things around in an ominous sign of her intentions before next week's Australian Open.<br /><br />"I felt like I literally lifted my game at that point, because I knew I was gonna be headed to Melbourne if I didn't," the world number one said. France were at least assured of a place in the men's final after Richard Gasquet and Julien Benneteau won their last-eight matches. <br /><br />Gasquet, who resumed playing this month after being cleared over a positive cocaine test, defeated Italy's Potito Starace 6-3, 7-6 and Benneteau beat Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-4, 6-7, 6-0. <br /><br />"I had so many things very hard to do last year, so now I play for fun," Gasquet said." Former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus also reached the semifinals by beating Australian Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. <br /><br />He meets American Mardy Fish who overcame Australia's Peter Luczak 7-6, 6-2. Anabel enters semis Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues recovered from a loss of concentration on Thursday to secure her place in the semifinals of the Hobart International, one of the last events before the Australian Open. <br /><br />The top seed defeated Argentina's Gisela Dulko 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 to set up a meeting with Alona Bondarenko on Friday after the Ukrainian fourth seed defeated China's Zheng Jie 7-5, 7-5. <br /><br />Unseeded Sara Errani of Italy also progressed to the last four by beating Belgian qualifier Kirsten Flipkens 6-3, 6-4. Errani will play second seed Shahar Peer after the Israeli beat Spanish fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6, 7-6, 7-5. <br /></p>
<p> <br />The Australian Open champion was teetering on the brink of defeat after losing the first set and trailing 5-2 in the second but she raised her game to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. "I was lucky to get through today," American Williams told reporters. "I'm just super mentally tough, I feel like that's definitely one of my strengths." <br /><br />While Williams had to dig deep, Dementieva had no real problems winning her semifinal against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Dementieva cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory at the Olympic tennis centre to remain on course to defend her title. <br /><br />"I was trying to be very aggressive from the beginning of the match," Dementieva said. <br />Williams was well below her best against Rezai but used all her big-match experience to turn things around in an ominous sign of her intentions before next week's Australian Open.<br /><br />"I felt like I literally lifted my game at that point, because I knew I was gonna be headed to Melbourne if I didn't," the world number one said. France were at least assured of a place in the men's final after Richard Gasquet and Julien Benneteau won their last-eight matches. <br /><br />Gasquet, who resumed playing this month after being cleared over a positive cocaine test, defeated Italy's Potito Starace 6-3, 7-6 and Benneteau beat Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-4, 6-7, 6-0. <br /><br />"I had so many things very hard to do last year, so now I play for fun," Gasquet said." Former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus also reached the semifinals by beating Australian Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. <br /><br />He meets American Mardy Fish who overcame Australia's Peter Luczak 7-6, 6-2. Anabel enters semis Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues recovered from a loss of concentration on Thursday to secure her place in the semifinals of the Hobart International, one of the last events before the Australian Open. <br /><br />The top seed defeated Argentina's Gisela Dulko 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 to set up a meeting with Alona Bondarenko on Friday after the Ukrainian fourth seed defeated China's Zheng Jie 7-5, 7-5. <br /><br />Unseeded Sara Errani of Italy also progressed to the last four by beating Belgian qualifier Kirsten Flipkens 6-3, 6-4. Errani will play second seed Shahar Peer after the Israeli beat Spanish fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6, 7-6, 7-5. <br /></p>