Tennis: Title favourite Serena Williams enjoyed a routine straight-sets win over Ana Ivanovic at the US Open. Williams, now odds-on for a fourth Flushing Meadows crown of her career, continued her march through the draw with a 6-3 6-4 victory in New York.
She will now face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a place in the semi-finals.
Williams got her big serve firing from the off - she would finish with nine aces - as she raced into a 3-0 lead on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
However, former world number one Ivanovic, who is hoping British coach Nigel Sears can help propel her back up the rankings, hit back by reeling off the next three games, breaking Williams' serve for the first and only time in the match.
Having fought back, Ivanovic threw in a shocker of a game at 3-4, producing three double faults to allow Williams to regain the intiative.
The American, seeded only 28th due to a long spell out of the game, refused to relent and grabbed an early break in the second set to open a 2-0 lead.
It was one she refused to relinquish, despite Ivanovic battling hard.
In the end though there were too many unforced errors from the Serb - 29 to her opponent's 14 - and she was unable to force a break-back point as Williams wrapped up her expected victory in just 74 minutes.
Pavlyuchenkova had earlier moved into her second Grand Slam quarter-final of the season by knocking out seventh seed Francesca Schiavone.
The Russian came from a set down to win the pair's fourth-round clash 5-7 6-3 6-4.
The Arthur Ashe Stadium was not treated to a classic, neither player was at her best as they racked up almost 100 unforced errors between them. Both also had double-fault counts in double figures. In addition, there were no fewer than 16 service breaks in the 31 games.
The final set brought the best tennis of the match and after Pavlyuchenkova had squandered an early 2-0 lead, she finally struck the decisive blow with Schiavone serving to stay in the match at 4-5.
The Russian blew two match points but it proved third time lucky as she drilled a perfect forehand down the line to clinch victory in two hours and 41 minutes.