BRISBANE — Serena Williams had a tough win over the woman she's predicting will one day top the rankings as she set up a semifinal match at the Brisbane International against current No. 1 Victoria Azarenka. Serena survived on key points against US teammate Sloane Stephens Thursday before winning 6-4, 6-3. Earlier Azarenka, of Belarus, swept aside the challenge of Kazakhstan qualifier Ksenia Pervak 6-1, 6-0 in her most impressive display of the tournament. The second semi-final will be between two unseeded players after Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine beat 2012 runner-up Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-4 and Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova downed fourth seeded German Angelique Kerber 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7-3). In the men's section, Olympic and US Open champion Andy Murray was pushed further than he expected before winning his opening match 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 against Australian qualifier John Millman. He'll meet Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, a 7-5, 7-5 winner over former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, in the quarterfinals. In the other men's second-round matches, Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria upset No. 2-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada 6-3, 6-4 and No. 7 Jurgen Melzer of Austria had a 6-5, 7-6 (4) win over David Goffin of Belgium. Spain in final A tournament-ending knee injury to American John Isner on Thursday handed Spain a berth in this weekend's final of the Hopman Cup. The US pairing of Isner and Venus Williams were set to face Spain's Fernando Verdasco and Anabel Medina Garrigues Thursday, with the winner to progress to Saturday's final. However, Isner withdrew from the tournament on Thursday morning citing a right knee problem, handing Spain a 3-0 victory and passage into the final for the sixth time. Spain will face Serbian top seeds Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic or Australian surprise packets Bernard Tomic and Ashleigh Barty in the final. The evening tie saw Australia beat Italy 2-1 to stay in the hunt for the final. — Agencies
