Just like last year's Australian Open final, the irrepressible Serena Williams upstaged Dinara Safina on all fronts as the world's top two tennis players took contrasting routes to the quarter-finals of the Sydney International.
In stinking hot conditions, Williams was uber cool - as she likes to put it - on and off the court, breezing past Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-2 6-2 in her opening match of 2010 before charming journalists at her post-match press conference about the delights of Sydney and her handbag.
In her first match since October, Safina huffed and puffed before recovering from 5-0 down in the opening set to advance with a 7-5 6-4 win over Poland's world No.10 Agnieszka Radwanska.
It was impressive stuff from both players as they look to hone their games ahead of the season's first grand slam starting in Melbourne on Monday.
As ever, though, Williams stole the show.
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While Safina had to claw her way out of a dogfight, Williams declared her leisurely match a "good workout" before moving on to more important matters - like the colour of her handbag, and dress, and her attraction to the NSW capital.
"It's plum," Williams said of her handbag, assuring all the accessary was from her very own fashion label.
Williams has been coming to Sydney for 11 years, fondly recalling the days when pretty White City hosted the tournament.
"I went to the Opera House. I've done it all," she said.
"It's such a fabulous city. You always see it in movies, like Mission Impossible. So I feel really cool to be in a cool city. It's fun."
Especially when, in synch with her illustrious career, Williams continues winning, both in Sydney and in Melbourne, where the 28-year-old has collected four Open titles.
Little wonder the 11-times grand slam champion is so relaxed, an antithesis of the usually stressed out Safina, who is still chasing her maiden major after confessing to three finals chokes.
"The most disappointing was in the French Open (last year against Svetlana Kuznetsova)," Safina said.
"I had a very good chance to win and I wanted so badly to win, and of course I didn't allow myself to play my best."
The 23-year-old said she had learned from the painful near-misses and is now just pleased to be back playing after being sidelined for six weeks with inflammation of the spine.
Her condition restricted Safina to hitting forehands only for several weeks before upping the ante last month.
"This was because this was the shot that didn't you cause me any pain," Safina said. Williams, with a seed-free path to Saturday night's final, will play Russian Vera Dushevina for a place in the last four, while Safina will meet either fellow Russian Elena Dementieva or Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in the quarters.
But Russia's second-ranked player, third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, will head to Melbourne with just one match under her belt this summer following her surprise 7-5 6-2 loss on Tuesday to Slovak Dominika Cibulkova. Kuznetsova had hoped to also contest last week's Brisbane International but wasn't allowed because of scheduling issues with the WTA.
Cibulkova will take on Victoria Azarenka after the Belarussian sixth seed edged into the last eight with a two-and-a-half-hour 6-1 5-7 7-5 win over 39-year-old Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Drumm.
