Melbourne: 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 Monday'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.
But Serena 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 Serena will retain her No.1 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 Na after she defeated Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 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.
Olympic triumph
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.
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As a former world No.1 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."
Venus 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 Venus 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."
There have been few surprises in the men's event this week and the pattern continued on Monday as Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Russia's Nikola Davydenko both won.
Djokovic, the 2008 champion, sealed his place in the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-2, 7-5 win over Poland's Lukasz, the only unseeded player to make the fourth round of the men's draw.
"If he's seeded or unseeded, if he comes to the second week of play, he must be a quality player," Djokovic said.
"It's a Grand Slam, you know. To reach last 16, last 8, it's not a piece of cake."
Davydenko had to work a lot harder before wearing down Spain's Fernando Verdasco tense 6-2, 7-5, 4-6, 6-7, 6-3.
The Russian had won his three previous matches in straight sets but was grateful for the workout with Roger Federer or Lleyton Hewitt awaiting him in the next round.
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