Serena Williams believes she is hitting form just at the right time following her superb straight-sets win over Dinara Safina in the last 16 of the French Open.
The American, seeded eight, set up a mouth-watering quarter-final with reigning champion Justine Henin by dismissing her Russian opponent 6-2 6-3 on Philippe Chatrier court on Sunday.
Williams put in some patchy displays in the opening three rounds but given the ease in which she breezed past 10th seed Safina, she looks to be ready for the Henin test.
After the victory – which lasted an hour and 16 minutes – she said: 'That was definitely better.'
'It came together in practice the other day. I was feeling a little bit better. I knew if I could play the way I practised, I would be able to do a good job.
'Usually I don't like to peak too soon. I like to bring up the level of my play right around the quarters, semis and mainly the final.
'I feel good, and I feel better each match. I'm sliding better, I'm running better and I'm just playing the clay-court game a bit better.'
Henin, the top seed, will meet Williams after securing a 6-2 6-4 win over Sybille Bammer, also on Sunday.
Williams, playing a higher-ranked opponent in Safina, was more impressive though, the American in unforgiving mood throughout. She went 4-0 up in the first set, which she eventually took in 36 minutes.
After a flurry of breaks at the start of the second set, Williams won four straight points on the Safina serve to go 4-3 up and then held with ease to go to the brink of victory.
A Safina error on Williams' first match point gifted the win to the American, and in doing so set up the match with Henin everyone had been talking about since the draw was made a week and a half ago.
The clash will bring up memories of the last match between the two players at Roland Garros, which occurred in 2003.
It was an ill-tempered semi-final won by Henin, but marred by a number of heated incidents.
Williams said: I don't want to reflect on that any more. I've let it go. And obviously she did. This is a new year. It was what it was and we're both different people now.'
Williams is the only American left in either singles draw.
Henin, looking this year to claim her third straight title at Roland Garros, triumphed in an hour and 24 minutes against Bammer, the Austrian left-hander.
After a one-sided first set, the world number one went 4-0 up in the second before Bammer threatened a comeback.
She won four games on the trot, the fourth seeing her come back from 0-40 down on Henin's serve to take it. But there was to be no miracle recovery.
Henin broke Bammer in the ninth game and then held, after squandering two match points, to claim the victory and maintain her record of not dropping a set this championship.
Precocious teenager Nicole Vaidisova, the sixth seed, also made her way into the quarter-finals by thrashing Italy's Tathiana Garbin 6-3 6-1 on Court 1.
The Czech Republic prodigy, 17, will play either Jelena Jankovic or Marion Bartoli in the last eight.
She reached the semi-finals here last year, losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets, but she feels she has improved since then.
She said: 'I definitely try to learn from each year. Typically, I go for a lot of shots. But on clay I'm trying to wait for a little bit, put the ball in play more, and not hit it as much. I've been working on my game.'
Kuznetsova, seeded three this year, was a straight-sets winner over Shahar Peer on Court 1.
The Russian came into the match having never beaten the Israeli before, but she prevailed 6-4 6-3 to clinch a quarter-final place.
She struggled to finish the game off though, seeing her 5-0 lead in the second set reduced to 5-3, before claiming victory with the first of her three match points in the ninth game.
Kuznetsova said: 'I don't think I'm playing very good tennis yet, so I'm looking forward to showing some more.
'I was good enough to win but there were too many unforced errors. I have a day off tomorrow (Monday) and I'm hoping to be pretty fresh for my next match.'
