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Dementieva crushes Williams to defend Sydney crown

Elena Dementieva is seeded fifth for next week's Australian Open © Getty Images

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Russia's Elena Dementieva defended her Sydney International title after beating a hobbling Serena Williams 6-3 6-2.

Williams, top seed for next week's Australian Open was clearly struggling with knee troubles, and despite heavy strapping, was unable to put up a fight against the world No.5, who eased to her first title of the year.

However, Williams insisted she would be ready to defend her Australian Open title in Melbourne next week, and praised her opponent's performance. "I think she played well, I made about a thousand and two unforced errors … it's better now than later, I guess," Williams said. "I was struggling a little bit, but, you know, I hate to make any excuse. I think she definitely deserves all the credit for what she did.

Meanwhile, in the men's draw, Marcos Baghdatis made hard work of his semi-final match against American Mardy Fish. Baghdatis squandered match point in the second set and was taken to a third set tie-break before sealing his place in the final, where he will face Richard Gasquet, appearing in his first tournament since his doping ban last year.

Gasquet beat Julien Benneteau in straight sets 6-3 7-5 and he admitted he was enjoying his tennis again after he was cleared of testing positive for cocaine use he claimed it was transferred from kissing a woman in a nightclub.

It's tough to come back," he said. "It's hard in the head, so it was really tiring, more tiring than to play one hundred matches for sure. I want to play just for fun. That's why I'm there. I'm enjoying the match."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.