Venus Williams of the USA came from a set down to beat Spain's Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in the women's singles quarter-finals in Sydney 3-6 6-2 6-4.

Monica Seles of the USA cruised into the semi-finals in straight sets against Dominique van Roost of Belgium, taking exactly one hour to win 6-0 6-2.

Crowd favourite Jelena Dokic of Australia defeated South Africa's Amando Coetzer 6-1 1-6 6-1 in a remarkable match. Dokic appeared to be cruising after a comfortable first set, but her game fell to pieces in the second as she littered the court with unforced errors.

However, Dokic regained her composure into the decider to ultimately progress convincingly into the semis.

Elena Dementieva of Russia completed the semi-final line-up with a 2-6 6-2 6-1 triumph over Barbara Schett of Austria.