Florida giant Venus Williams thundered into the Wimbledon quarter-finals in ominously impressive form as she battered Belgium's Sabine Appelmans. But it was not only the 6ft 1in American's familiar power-game which swung the day. She also had to rely on the basics, right at the end after her rival had staged a marvellous fight-back - just when the match seemed beyond her. Fifth seed Williams, who has missed so much tennis this year through injury, also displayed magnificent touch and mobility to outclass an opponent who herself played well enough to have had a winning chance against almost any other player left in the draw.
Serena Williams joined her sister Venus in the last eight of the women's draw with a scintillating straight-sets defeat of Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn. The eighth seed and reigning US Open champion started the match with two aces and from then on it was one-way traffic on court two with a 6-1 6-1 victory duly arriving soon afterwards.
PA Sport
