The Williams sisters have set their sights on top seed Martina Hingis as they crushed unseeded opponents to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open today.
With attention starting to focus on possible Hingis-Williams showdowns in the later rounds, former Australian Open champion Mary Pierce was barely noticed as she bowed out.
The seventh seed was beaten 6-3 6-2 by unheralded Paola Suarez of Argentina.
Greg Rusedski led the charge in the men's draw. He beat world number one Gustavo Kuerten two days ago and today wore out German qualifier Lars Burgsmuller 6-1 6-2 6-1.
Fourth and fifth seeds Magnus Norman and Yevgeny Kafelnikov also progressed despite dropping sets to lesser ranked opponents.
Fifth seed Kafelnikov, winner in 1999 and runner-up last year, beat American Chris Woodruff 6-7 7-5 6-2 6-3.
"I probably would say I'm playing well, but how well we shall find out in eight or nine days... or maybe even two days," Kafelnikov said.
Norman, runner-up at the French Open last year, beat a persistent Alex Calatrava of Spain 7-6 3-6 7-6 6-3.
Martina Hingis shrugged off an indifferent start to beat French wildcard Virginie Razzano 7-5 6-1 as temperatures at Melbourne Park hovered around 35 degrees Celsius.
Sixth seed Serena Williams ensured she stayed in the race with a 6-1 6-4 mauling of Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn.
Venus Williams, the third seed, then stepped on to centre court and powered into the fourth round with a 6-4 6-1 win over unseeded Czech Denisa Chladkova.
Venus's next opponent is 1999 Australian Open runner-up Amelie Mauresmo. The Frenchwoman beat Croatian Iva Majoli 6-4 6-2, showing few signs of the back injury which cut short her title defence in Sydney last week.
"I think it will be an important match," Venus said of her meeting with Mauresmo. "Basically I want to go out there and be serious and not take anything for granted."
Pierce joins Conchita Martinez, Chanda Rubin and Amy Frazier as the seeded casualties from the first week.
South African Wayne Ferreira also failed to reach the fourth round. The 10th seed was upset 6-0 3-6 6-4 6-3 by Swede Andreas Vinciguerra.
Ferreira said he hurt a finger on his left hand catching a ball during the pre-match warm-up. - AFP