Williams sweats it out but prevails

By Diane Pucin

Jan. 28, 2009 12 AM PT

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA —

It was called a heat emergency, but it was also a Serena emergency.

When the Rod Laver Arena roof was open this afternoon and the sun was sapping the strength from the two players, Svetlana Kuznetsova inserted caution into her game and won the first set of her Australian Open quarterfinal match against Serena Williams.

But when temperatures continued to rise, when fans covered their heads in towels and sweat pooled at the feet of Williams and Kuznetsova, a timeout was called, the mechanical roof was closed and a suddenly peppy Williams emerged.

Williams, a three-time Australian Open champion, advanced to the semifinals with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 win over the eighth-seeded Kuznetsova, in which she will play fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva, one of the other three Russian women still in the draw.

Dementieva, 27, reached her first Australian Open semifinal after 11 tries, earning a sluggish 6-2, 6-2 win over Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro. That 1-hour, 35-minute match was played with the roof open, a decision Dementieva questioned.

As the break was taken to close the roof, Dementieva said she wondered why that hadn’t happened earlier.

“When you see the forecast, like it’s going to be (105) today, (109) tomorrow, why not close the roof? Not only for the players but for the spectators as well. I think if you have a roof, why not use it?”

Kuznetsova, though, wondered why the roof was closed.

“I was very comfortable playing outside,” Kuznetsova said. “It was a big change, two different games, one played inside, one played outside. Serena’s got a big serve and she was using it very good when the roof was closed. I had the game going my way. The guys played with the roof open yesterday with the same weather, so I didn’t get it.”

The decision to close the roof belonged to tournament referee Wayne McKewen. A tournament spokesman said a formula is used that takes into account air temperature, wind, solar radiation and humidity. The temperature was 109 degrees when the roof was closed.

Williams said it was so hot that she sent some rackets to be restrung during the first set.

“My rackets were losing all the tension so I had them strung tighter than normal,” she said. “The balls were flying all over, I was pretty much hitting people in the crowd, my balls were just flying.”

Williams also said she felt as if she were having an out-of-body experience in the first set.

“I was just watching this person in blue running around in the heat,” she said.

Even the man whose name is on the major show court at the year’s first major tournament wondered why the roof was open.

“Just the mechanics say we’re going to have this sort of heat for the next three days, why not just close it right now and leave it closed? That’s how you’re going to see your best tennis,” Laver said.

Williams played much more of her best tennis after the roof closed and the air conditioning was turned on.

Williams got only half her first serves in and she said she felt as if her feet were stuck on the court in the heat in the first set.

Kuznetsova broke Williams’ serve in the 11th game on a forehand winner then held serve at love.

But in the second set, with the roof closed, even as she fell behind by a break, Williams played more aggressively. Those shots that were flying long before were only missing by millimeters.

With Kuznetsova up, 5-3, Williams easily held serve and then broke Kuznetsova twice.

The first time Kuznetsova dumped a volley into the net and the second time Williams hit a big forehand winner that prompted the nine-time Grand Slam event winner to pump her fist.

In the third set, Kuznetsova unraveled, dumping ground strokes into the net over and over.

diane.pucin@latimes.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Australian Open

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING . . .

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (5) of France played Fernando Verdasco (14) of Spain.

Rafael Nadal (1) of Spain played Gilles Simon (6) of France.

Go to latimes.com/sports for details of all these matches.

TODAY’S MATCHES

Women’s semifinals

Vera Zvonareva (7) of Russia vs. Dinara Safina (3) of Russia.

Elena Dementieva (4) of Russia vs. Serena Williams (2) of the U.S.