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MELBOURNE - Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic thundered into the Australian Open quarterfinals and Roger Federer overcome his second stern test of the tournament to reach the last eight on Monday.
Lleyton Hewitt's tournament hit the buffers, however, Australia's remaining hope skidding out 7-5 6-3 6-3 to third
seed Novak Djokovic.
While Wimbledon champion Williams and fourth seed Ivanovic made light work of their opposition, world number one Federer was again made to fight hard to defend his title.
Pushed to five sets on Saturday, he prevailed 6-4 7-6 6-3 against 13th seed Tomas Berdych but did not have things all his own way.
"He was playing better (than me) in the second set, honestly," Federer said in a courtside interview.
"He got an early lead, then played well in the breaker. In the end, maybe he made a wrong shot selection. It's unfortunate for him, but jeez, it's good for me to win in straight sets."
Next up for the Swiss is American James Blake who reached his first grand slam quarterfinal outside the United States with a solid 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory over Croatia's Marin Cilic.
While Federer put Saturday's epic behind him, Hewitt was unable to bounce back from his five-set third-round thriller.
The former world number one took until 4.33am on Sunday morning to oust Marcos Baghdatis and failed to rouse himself for the Djokovic challenge.
Serbian Djokovic overcame a nervy start to clinch victory in two hours, 26 minutes and set up a last-eight clash with fifth seed David Ferrer of Spain.
"In the first set I was lucky, but then afterwards I relaxed and tried to be aggressive and take control of the match which I did," Djokovic said.
"Of course, Lleyton was very tired from the Baghdatis match a couple of nights ago, so I took my opportunities."
Ferrer beat almost-namesake Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5 3-6 6-4 6-1 to reach the last eight.
"I beat Juan Carlos playing very well, it was a very tough match," Ferrer told reporters. "I am very happy. Now I am a little bit tired."
Djokovic's fellow Serb Ivanovic booked her quarterfinal with Venus by ousting Caroline Wozniacki 6-1 7-6.
The world number three has not lost a set during the tournament and is relishing the prospect of playing the American.
"She's definitely a tough opponent. Last two grand slams I lost to her. Exactly the time for some revenge," she smiled.
"It will be important for me to serve well, and, yeah, stay in the court and don't give her too much."
Williams advanced with a routine 6-4 6-4 victory over talented Polish qualifier Marta Domachowska.
Agnieszka Radwanska became the first Polish woman to reach a grand slam quarter-final when she came from a set and 3-0 down to beat an ailing Nadia Petrova.
Russian 14th seed Petrova led 6-1 3-0 but a groin strain hampered her movement in the third set and Radwanska stormed back to win 1-6 7-5 6-0 and set up a clash with ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.
The 18-year-old Radwanska is the youngest of the eight quarter-finalists.
Slovak Hantuchova recovered from a slow start to beat Russian Maria Kirilenko 1-6 6-4 6-4.
* Two New Zealanders were knocked out in their first round matches at the junior boys competition yesterday.
Christchurch 17-year-old James Meredith lost 6-2, 6-4 to Polish second seed Jerzy Janowicz while Finn Tearney of Wellington went down 6-2, 7-6 to Frenchman Axel Michon.
However, Tearney scored a first round doubles victory by teaming with China's Chen-Yu Wu and accounting for Australians Maverick Banes and James Duckworth 6-2, 6-2.
Australian-based New Zealander Chelsea Te Tai, originally from North Harbour, combined with Serbian Juljic Lukac to beat the German duo of Linda Berlinecke and Mara Nowak 6-1, 6-2 in their first round doubles match.
Sacha Jones had her Australian doubles partner Jessica Moore withdraw with injury prior to their first round match.
Jones, the ninth seed, plays her second round singles match against Australian Alison Bai tomorrow.
- REUTERS, NZPA