Top-seeded Li Na won her third match at the Shenzhen Open yesterday, defeating eighth-seeded Serbian Bojana Jovanovski 6-3, 6-3, and will meet compatriot Peng Shuai in an all-Chinese semifinal.

Peng Shuai beat Annika Beck of Germany 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Klara Zakopalova also advanced to the semifinals yesterday by beating second-seeded Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-2.

The fifth-seeded Zakopalova will meet Monica Niculescu in the semifinals after the Romanian beat Zhou Yimiao of China 6-4, 6-2.

In Australia, Serena Williams seized her opportunities in a heavy-hitting match against Sloane Stephens to set up a semifinal against top-ranked Victoria Azarenka at the Brisbane International.

Azarenka had no trouble in a 6-1, 6-0 win over Kazakh qualifier Ksenia Pervak yesterday afternoon before Williams beat Stephens 6-4, 6-3 in a night match.

Williams converted both of her break points and fended off one break chance against her in each set to hold off her 19-year-old US Fed Cup teammate, later saying Stephens had the potential to be "the best in the world one day."

Williams seemed to have trouble with her right calf muscle midway through the second set, knocking her leg three times with her racket before she served at 40-0 in the fifth game, but later said she didn't have any injury concerns.

"I definitely want to thank (Stephens) for giving me such a great match, because I'm going up against another good player, great player tomorrow, so I have to make sure I'm ready," she said.

Williams has an 11-1 record against Azarenka and was 5-0 against the 23-year-old Belarussian in 2012, including the US Open final. Azarenka started 2012 on a hot run, winning the Sydney International and the Australian Open - her first major - and gaining the No. 1 ranking during a 26-match winning streak.

No. 36-ranked Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia beat No. 4 Angelique Kerber of Germany 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3).

In the men's second round, Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria upset No. 2-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada 6-3, 6-4 and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan had a 7-5, 7-5 win over former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt.

In Wellington, New Zealand, top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska beat Russia's Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-3 after a lengthy rain delay to advance to semifinals of the ASB Classic.

Radwanska was joined in the semifinals by the two other seeded players remaining in the draw. Third-seeded Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium beat compatriot Kirsten Flipkens 6-3, 6-4 and eighth-seeded Mona Barthel of Germany beat Sweden's Johanna Larsson 6-2, 6-1.

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