Venus Williams powered into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Sunday by crushing Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva 6-0 6-3 with her most convincing performance of the tournament. Maleeva, the 13th seed, had no answer to the reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion's all-round strength and succumbed in a fourth round match lasting only 48 minutes.
"I think that my game can keep going up," Williams warned. "This is very good for me...especially seeing as I've been little bit injured I felt very good."
Williams will play eighth seed and fellow American Monica Seles in the quarter-finals. Seles reached the quarter-finals when her Spanish opponent Anabel Medina Garrigues badly hurt her knee and joined a long injury list at the grand slam event.
Medina Garrigues had been enjoying her best performance at a major tournament but the unseeded 19-year-old's progress was cut short in the sixth game of their fourth round match after she twisted her knee and had to concede. Tournament officials later said Medina Garrigues had ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee.
"She was probably playing the best tennis of her career, it's just a tough situation," Seles said. "It's unfortunate because it was such a good game. She started off well...I think the best tennis was ahead of us."
Switzerland's Martina Hingis demolished South Africa's Amanda Coetzer 6-1 6 0 on Sunday to book her place in the quarter-finals. The former world number one needed just 44 minutes to seal one of her easiest ever victories on the Melbourne Park centre court.
The 21-year-old Hingis lost only 24 points in the entire match and is yet to drop a set in the tournament. She has lost just two games in her last two matches. "I played really well," Hingis said. "I've played her in the past and lost to her so I knew I would have to play well to beat her."
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
