Serena Williams [ Images ] may have to remove sister Venus's number from speed dial after some misguided advice left her scrambling to beat Czech Lucie Safarova [ Images ] at the Hobart International on Tuesday.

"I spoke to Venus before the match, she's played her before and she said that she was a tough opponent," Serena told reporters after squeezing past Safarova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.

"But Venus didn't give me any good pointers, actually.

"She told me some false information, so I'll be calling her back about that."

The win put Serena into the quarter-finals and went some way towards boosting her confidence following her comeback from a four-month injury break.

Serena, preparing for next week's Australian Open [ Images ], began well but her game fell apart in the second set and she had to battle all the way to keep her title bid alive.

"It's been a while since I won a tiebreaker and that was in the back of my mind," she said.

"I thought 'I have to win this tiebreaker,' and more than anything that's what I was excited about, even more than winning the match.

"I was really happy to win because I wasn't ready to go home yet," said Serena after booking a quarter-final spot against Austrian Sybille Bammer.

"I wanted to have at least one more match here before the Australian Open, so I was happy to win."

Bammer romped past second seed Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4, 6-3.