Venus Williams returns the ball to Alisa Kleybanova of Russia during their match at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London June 30, 2008.
(REUTERS/Alessia Pierdomenico)
Venus Williams sweeps into quarter-finals
Venus Williams returns the ball to Alisa Kleybanova of Russia during their match at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London June 30, 2008.
(REUTERS/Alessia Pierdomenico)
LONDON (Reuters) - Four-times champion Venus Williams swept into the quarter-finals at Wimbledon on Monday with an impressive display of power tennis against Russian teenager Alisa Kleybanova.
Williams, firmly on course to meet her sister Serena in the final, won 6-3 6-4 on Court Two.
The number seven seed, often a slow starter, was razor-sharp from the beginning against the 18-year-old Muscovite, who was broken in the eighth game when she double-faulted three times.
The youngest player left in the tournament battled hard against the vastly more experienced Williams, 28, whose game has
sharpened from match to match.
In the second set, Kleybanova fought a fine rearguard action. She survived two match points at 5-2, broke Williams' serve, held her own to love, then finally succumbed 6-4 to the title holder.
(Reporting by Paul Majendie, Editing by Clare Lovell)
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