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Swiss Roger Federer came close to a victory for his 14th Grand Slam title of individual _con to match the mark of American Pete Sampras_ Thursday to overcome the Open semifinals in Australia to American Andy Roddick also with partial of 6-2, 7-5 and 7-5.

Roddick, who made a vigorous training before the start of the season designed to help beat Federer and world number one Rafael Nadal, was in good shape.


But the second preclasificado it surpassed all facets of the game, spreading shock winners across the court and forcing Roddick to make just one good hit to win a point, even had no answer that serves the American 16-8, which harsh draw is well known.

Federer, who seeks his fourth title of Australia, on Sunday will face the winner of the final meeting on Friday between the Spaniards Nadal, first preclasificado and Fernando Verdasco.


In the women's branch, Serena Williams was placed on Thursday at a victory to win his 10th individual title and fourth Grand Slam in the Open defeat by Australia at 6-3 and 6-4 partial to Russian Elena Dementieva. His next engagement is against Dinara Safina.

With the roof of the Rod Laver Arena closed to protect players and fans outside temperature nearly 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit), Williams played his best tournament of the confrontation.


"I have not moved well for a while, so I was a little impact," he said, leaving room for improvement. "A perfect match for me? Oh, no, no, no!. But it was definitely better," he said.

"I'm really excited because I'm playing consistently," added Williams.


And certainly it did against Dementieva, who defeated in their previous three clashes and came here after winning two tournaments, followed by heating.

"I think today was very powerful," said the fourth preclasificada. "I think maybe I was not aggressive enough and maybe I was not playing with enough depth, enabling it to be very aggressive and dictate the game," he said.


Williams, second preclasificada, has a string of victories here in alternate years since 2003.

Wednesday was a game of being eliminated when Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova also was serving for the match, but found his rhythm quickly to Dementieva.


The U.S. won 27 years on this occasion in just 98 minutes of play.

After defeating Russia in two consecutive clashes, Williams will face Saturday in the final to Russian Safina also. The winner will also be the number one player in the world ranking.


Safina advanced to the finals on Thursday after defeating his compatriot Vera Zvonareva by 6-3 and 7-6 (4).

Safina's older brother, Marat Safin, won the title here in 2005, a day after that Williams beat the then number one and compatriot Lindsay Davenport in the women's final.


Safina looks forward to give a late birthday present. Safin served 29 years on Tuesday.

"Maybe now with some money to buy her a gift," he joked. "It's great that you can follow in his footsteps. He was my idol, it is still my idol," he added.

Safina has not yet won a major tournament, lost the final of the French Open in 2008 at the Serbian

Ana Ivanovic, and lost to Williams last year in the semifinals of the U.S. Open.