Tennis:Serena Williams is in such devastating form that a fifth Australian Open title appears well within her grasp at a season-opening grand slam where a majority of her main rivals have fallen by the wayside.
She still needs to win three more matches to defend her title but on today's evidence, she is clearly in the mood. Her performance against Samantha Stosur was as ruthless as anything she has ever displayed on the Rod Laver Arena.
Stosur was the last Australian in the women's draw and loomed as a formidable opponent having made the semi-finals of the French Open last year and climbed to 13th in the world rankings.
However, Williams has never been one for sentiment and she showed the Australian no mercy, winning 6-4 6-2 in a little over an hour.
That fourth round win ensured Williams will retain her number one ranking regardless of what happens at Melbourne Park after the remaining players in the top five all crashed out, leaving an unexpected lineup of quarter-finalists, including two from China.
The nation's sporting revolution has been slow in reaching international tennis. More than two million Chinese play the game for fun but only a handful take it seriously enough to make a mark on the professional game.
At the forefront of her country's batch of leading players is Zheng Jie, who gave the world a glimpse of the changing face of tennis when she made the semi-finals at Wimbledon two years ago.
The diminutive 26-year-old is already through to the quarter-finals in Australia and looking to go further but has been joined this time by Li Naafter she defeated Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki6-4 6-3.
It was not an upset of major proportions as Li is ranked 17th in the world, but it was still a surprise as Wozniacki made the final of last year's US Open and was seeded fourth at Melbourne Park.
"Yeah, this is good for us, both players in the quarter-finals," Li said, before jokingly revealing the secret behind their success. "Maybe I eat Chinese food."
Wozniacki is a popular figure in Australia but her loss to Li was a victory for the tournament's marketing team who have rebranded the championship as the Grand Slam of Asia/Pacific.
Li's next opponent is Venus Williams, who booked her place in the quarter-finals with a 3-6 6-2 6-1 win over Italian Francesca Schiavone.
As a former world number one and multiple grand slam winner, Williams is entitled to start as favourite although Li can draw confidence from her only previous encounter with the American.
That was at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, also in the quarter-finals, with Li emerging triumphant 7-5 7-5.
"It was good experience for me, for my tennis. But I just want to forget (that), because I will play her again."
Williams has never won the Australian Open and time may be running out for her. At 29, she is the oldest woman left in the women's draw and even if she beats Li she could face Serena in the semi-finals.
She was well below her best against Schiavone, dropping the opening set then losing her first service game in the second set without winning a point.
But winning a set against the Williams sister is one thing, winning the match is another, and once Venus found her rhythm the contest was over.
"I just realised I was rushing a little too much and I just really needed to take my time," Venus explained.
"It was just the first game. There was a long way to go after the first game still, and I knew that. Everyone knows that."
Australian Open Collated Results, Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia
Men's Singles Fourth Round: (1) Roger Federer (Swi) bt (22) Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 6-2 6-3 6- 4, (6) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt (9) Fernando Verdasco (Spa) 6-2 7-5 4-6 6-7 (5-7) 6-3, (3) Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt Lukasz Kubot (Pol) 6-1 6-2 7-5, (10) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt (26) Nicolas Almagro (Spa) 6-3 6-4 4-6 6-7 (6-8) 9-7
Women's Singles Fourth Round:(1) Serena Williams (USA) bt (13) Samantha Stosur (Aus) 6-4 6-2, (7) Victoria Azarenka (Blr) bt (9) Vera Zvonareva (Rus) 4-6 6-4 6-0, (16) Na Li (Chn) bt (4) Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 6-4 6-3, (6) Venus Williams (USA) bt (17) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) 3-6 6-2 6-1
Men's Doubles Third Round:Michael Kohlmann (Ger) & Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Simone Bolelli (Ita) & Andreas Seppi (Ita) 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (8-6), Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) & Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt (11) Simon Aspelin (Swe) & Paul Hanley (Aus) 6-4 6-3, (3) Lukas Dlouhy (Cze) & Leander Paes (Ind) bt John Isner (USA) & Sam Querrey (USA) 6-3 7-5
Women's Doubles Third Round: (15) Maria Kirilenko (Rus) & Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) bt (3) Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spa) & Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Spa) 6-1 6-2, (6) Lisa Raymond (USA) & Rennae Stubbs (Aus) bt Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) & Monica Niculescu (Rom) 7-5 6-3, (8) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) & Zi Yan (Chn) bt (9) Elena Vesnina (Rus) & Jie Zheng (Chn) 6-4 6-4
Mixed Doubles First round: Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) & Dick Norman (Bel) bt (5) Maria Kirilenko (Rus) & Nenad Zimonjic (Ser) 6-3 3-6 11-9
Second Round: (1) Cara Black (Zim) & Leander Paes (Ind) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) & Rik De Voest (Rsa) 6-4 6-2, (8) Elena Vesnina (Rus) & Andy Ram (Isr) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger) & Christopher Kas (Ger) 3-6 7-5 10-6, Chia-Jung Chuang (Tpe) & Filip Polasek (Svk) bt (3) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) & Bob Bryan (USA) 7-5 7-6 (7-4), Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova (Cze) & Oliver Marach (Aut) bt (6) Alisa Kleybanova (Rus) & Max Mirnyi (Blr) 3-6 6-3 10-7, Flavia Pennetta (Ita) & Marcelo Melo (Bra) bt Jarmila Groth (Aus) & Samuel Groth (Aus) 6-2 6-3, Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) & Jaroslav Levinsky (Cze) bt (2) Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) & Daniel Nestor (Can) w/o
Junior Boy's Singles First Round: (11) Renzo Olivo (Arg) bt Tom Allen (Gbr) 6-2 5-7 6-1
Junior Girl's Singles First Round:Laura Robson (Gbr) bt Belinda Woolcock (Aus) 6-0 6-1
Junior Boy's Doubles First Round: Victor Baluda (Rus) & Richard Muzaev (Rus) bt Cedrick Commin (Fra) & Oliver Golding (Gbr) 7-5 6-3, Tom Allen (Gbr) & Jack Carpenter (Gbr) bt Suk-Young Jeong (Kor) & Jung-Woong Na (Kor) 6-1 6-3