Capriati cruises through
Top seed and defending champion Jennifer Capriati showed few signs of the hip injury that has plagued her during the past two weeks as she overcame Rita Grande 6-3, 7-6 to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
After breezing through the first set, Capriati was forced to work hard in the second by the 20th seed before she came through 11-9 in a tie-break.
"I did what I had to do to win," Capriati admitted. "At times I played really well and other times maybe not so good, I let the match kind of get that close when I didn't have to.
"Hopefully when I have matches like this, this will make me sharper out there and sharper on the court physically."
Capriati will play seventh seed Amelie Mauresmo, who struggled past Marlene Weingartner 6-0, 4-6, 7-5, in the quarter-finals.
The match will be a repeat of the US Open quarter-finals last year which Capriati won easily.
"Maybe that wasn't her best match that she played, so I'm expecting her to be really eager and anxious to come out and play well," Capriati said. "I've just got to expect to do a lot of running again and also be very patient."
Belgium's Justine Henin also cruised into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Monday with a no-nonsense 6-0, 6-3 victory over 12th seed Elena Dementieva.
The sixth-seeded Henin barely put a foot wrong against Dementieva to set up a match with compatriot Kim Clijsters - who smashed Janette Husarova 6-2, 6-0 - in the quarters.
"It turned out much easier than I had expected," Henin said. "It was the toughest game so far for me but finally I have found my game."
Henin raced through the first set as the Russian failed to find her range. A rain delay at 2-1 in the second set seemed to help Dementieva settle, but once the centre court roof was closed and play resumed she missed two break points to allow Henin to take charge again.
Another break in the ninth game of the set handed Henin victory.
"I was playing my best tennis which is great news for the rest of the tournament. I was hitting the ball very well, timing it well and am looking forward to the next round," added Henin.
Venus Williams also made it through to the quarter-finals with a predictable 6-0, 6-3 destruction of 13th seed Magdalena Maleeva. But most of the talk afterwards was of the 197km serve she produced - faster than Tim Henman's best effort of 193kph and Lleyton Hewitt's best of just 190 kph.