Melbourne, Australia - Jelena Dokic said that an enthusiastic welcome home from frenzied fans at the Australian Open has truly marked the start of her second career.

The 25-year-old was still beaming on Wednesday, a day after losing after an improbable run into the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam.

"It was quite a ride from the first round onwards," the number 187, who is set for a big rise on the WTA from Monday, told the Seven television network. "I got a good start and things just went crazy from there."

Melbourne, Australia  - Elena Dementieva kept her dream of a possible number one WTA ranking alive as she stormed past Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday and into her first semi-final at the Australian Open.

"It only took me ten years to get here," joked the Russian fourth seed who spent just over 90 minutes in burning 39.5 degrees Celsius heat as summer weather took hold in Melbourne,

Melbourne  - Legend Rod Laver worries that Lleyton Hewitt's hip surgery may have robbed the former number one of some of his famed speed around the court.

"He's lost a step or two, mostly because he's had the hip injury," said the last man to win the calendar Grand Slam in 1969. "There's also the fact that you've had a career, won a Wimbledon and the US Open. Now all of a sudden everyone is saying, 'Hey, you're still a young man, you're gonna win an Australian,' or whatever it might be.

On Tuesday, at Melbourne Park, Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles were successful into reaching the Australian Open doubles semi-finals as they presented Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco a strong defeat.

A total of 88 minutes were taken by the third seeded Indo-Bahamian pair to defeat the Spanish duo 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in their quarter-final clash.

Bhupati-Knowles were able to sail to the next level, even when Lopez-Verdasco showed some resistance in the second set, winning it 6-2.

Melbourne, Jan 27 : Tania Zaetta has been invited to sing for Australian troops again after the Defence Department apologised to her over false allegations claiming she had sex with soldiers during a tour of Afghanistan.

Defence has revealed that it had finished mending fences with Zaetta over the claims.

The Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, met the former Who Dares Wins host and apologised again to her.

He said there was no substance to the allegations.

Sydney - The 16-member Pacific Forum meeting in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday gave Fiji a May 1 deadline to name a date for returning to parliamentary democracy or risk sanctions.

Reports from New Zealand said that if a date was not set, and elections not held this year, the forum would not let Fiji attend leaders' meetings or receive aid from the grouping.

Fiji strongman Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who ousted the elected government in a bloodless coup two years ago, did not attend the meeting because he said he was required in Suva to oversee flood-relief efforts.