Serena Williams turned up the heat on sister Venus as the two-time champion swept into the Wimbledon quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Daniela Hantuchova on Monday.
As temperatures soared on the hottest day of the year in England, second seed Serena showed she has no intention of letting Venus have it all her own way at the All England Club by brushing aside unseeded Slovakian Hantuchova in 56 minutes.
Serena and Venus have already contested three Wimbledon finals, as well as making a combined 11 appearances in the final.
Venus, who also made it to the last eight thanks to Ana Ivanovic’s withdrawal midway through their fourth round match, beat Serena in the final here 12 months ago and the Americans remain on course for another sister act in this year’s showpiece.
Hantuchova never had a chance of halting Serena’s charge towards the final.
The former world number five had almost lost her voice after suffering from flu since arriving at Wimbledon and she might have better off staying on her sick bed.
Serena was again shunted out to Court Two but she didn’t seem bothered by the unglamourous surroundings of Wimbledon’s smaller show court.
The Australian Open champion was able to over-power Hantuchova in the first set and then broke twice at the start of the second set to cruise through.
In the men’s competition, Roger Federer clinched an 11th win in 11 meetings against big-serving Swede Robin Soderling to reach the quarter-finals.
In a repeat of the French Open final, where the great Swiss clinched a record-equalling 14th Grand Slam title, Federer won 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5) over the man who dramatically ended Rafael Nadal’s Roland Garros reign.
Federer, chasing a sixth Wimbledon title, will be appearing in his 25th Grand Slam quarter-final where he’ll face Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic, who has fired 102 aces in three rounds, or Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco.
”Today was really a serving contest, there weren’t many rallies so it’s hard to judge these kind of matches,” said Federer.
”But my form was great, I was moving well. He served a double fault in the third set tie-break otherwise it could have gone four sets.”
Soderling, who also lost in straight sets in the second round here in 2008 to Federer, paid heavily for a sloppy service game when he cracked to trail 4-5 courtesy of a netted forehand.
Federer clinched the opener when the Swede went long with a second service return.
The Swede dropped just three points on serve in the second set, but Federer was the more composed in the tie-breaker, refusing to give Soderling the pace on which he thrives.
Soderling finally carved out his first break points of the match in the ninth game of the third set, but Federer stood firm to lead 5-4.
The Swede 13th seed glanced a chance at 5/4 in the tie-breaker, but Federer went to 5/5 and then match point when his opponent served a third double fault.
The match was Federer’s when the Swede went wide with a dispirited drive.
Germany’s rejuvenated Tommy Haas, the oldest man left in the draw at 31, reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final with a 7-6 (10/8), 6-4, 6-4 win over Russian 29th seed Igor Andreev.
Haas, seeded 24, and who saved two match points in his third round marathon victory over Croatia’s Marin Cilic, next faces either Serbian fourth seed Novak Djokovic or Israel’s Dudi Sela.
Djokovic was a semi-finalist in 2007 while Sela is the first Israeli in the last 16 here in 20 years.
A win for the world number 46 would make him the first Israeli man or woman to make a Grand Slam quarter-final in the Open era.
Later Monday, third seed Andy Murray faces Swiss Olympic doubles gold medallist Stanislas Wawrinka as he continues his bid to become the first British men’s champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion, takes on Czech Radek Stepanek while two-time runner-up Andy Roddick meets Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
Hewitt was the only Australian man in the main draw.
Former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero takes on Gilles Simon of France. — AFP
