Venus Williams is headed to the Australian Open quarterfinals for the first time in five years, beating Marta Domachowska 6-4, 6-4 today.
The Wimbledon champion will next face fourth-ranked Ana Ivanovic, who defeated Caroline Wozniacki.
“It’s good, it gets me ready for the rounds going forward,” Williams said of the close match.
Defending champion Serena Williams moved into the quarterfinals Sunday along with top-ranked Justine Henin, who has a 32-match winning streak, and fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova.
In the adjacent quarter of the draw, No. 9 Daniela Hantuchova and Agnieszka Radwanska advanced.
On the men’s side, second-seeded Rafael Nadal advanced to the quarterfinals in straight sets with an abbreviated 6-3, 3-0 win when Paul-Henri Mathieu withdrew because of an injured left leg.
“I was playing well today, maybe I was playing my best tennis in Australia this year,” said Nadal, a three-time French Open champion.
Other men’s winners included top-seeded Roger Federer and James Blake.
At a glance
Winners: Men: No. 1 Roger Federer, No. 2 Rafael
Nadal, No. 5 David Ferrer, No. 12 James Blake, No.
14 Mikhail Youzhny, No. 22 Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Women: No. 1 Justine Henin, No. 3 Jelena Jankovic,
No. 4 Ana Ivanovic, No. 5 Maria Sharapova, No. 7
Serena Williams, No. 8 Venus Williams, No. 9
Daniela Hantuchova.
Losers: Men: No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko, No. 8 Richard
Gasquet, No. 10 David Nalbandian, No. 23
Paul-Henri Mathieu, No. 29 Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Women: No. 11 Elena Dementieva, No. 12 Nicole
Vaidisova, No. 24 Li Na.
On court today: Lleyton Hewitt vs. Novak Djokovic,
Ferrero vs. Ferrer.
Stat of the day: 387: number of minutes-6
hours, 27 minutes-between the end of Saturday’s
Day 6 program, the Hewitt-Baghdatis match at 4:33
a.m. Sunday, and the start of Day 7 at 11 a.m.
Quote of the day: “You always have to roll with
the punches, and not everything’s going to be perfect.
If it was, then I would be in Hawaii right now,
with a glass of lemonade looking at my $20 million
home.” – Serena Williams, saying late-night
matches and unpredictable schedules are part of
tournament tennis
