Serena Books Final Rematch With Justine

Serena Williams continued the defense of her Sony Ericsson Open title on Monday afternoon with a comfortable straight set win over Kaia Kanepi. Among those joining her in the quarterfinals of the $3.77-million, Tier I event are her sister, Venus Williams, top seed Justine Henin and 2006 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
 
After struggling past Flavia Pennetta in the previous round, Serena looked back to her imperious best during a morale-boosting 63 63 triumph over Kanepi. The one hour, 22 minute-victory sees the American set up a repeat of 2007's final with Henin, an equally impressive 62 62 winner over Elena Vesnina. Last year's title decider proved to be one of the matches of the season, with Serena recovering from an opening set whitewash and fending off two match points in the second set to record a memorable 06 75 63 triumph.
 
Venus, the tournament's No.6 seed, was similarly untroubled during her fourth round encounter, easing past Danish starlet Caroline Wozniacki. After a slightly disappointing start to the season the three-time Miami champion produced a commanding display against her teenage foe, hitting 23 winners en route to a 63 63 win.
 
"I think I played some good tennis and was aggressive when I needed to, and had a lot of really good service games," Venus said. "I played well against a really good opponent. She has good defense, volleys well and tries to do the right thing by mixing it up. She's definitely got good variety in her game and a lot of talent."
 
Standing in-between Venus and a potential semifinal clash with her sister is the in-form No.3 seed Kuznetsova. After back-to-back runner-up finishes at Dubai and Indian Wells the Russian arrived in the Magic City full of confidence, but she labored through her opening few matches and was pushed hard once more by Shahar Peer on Day 6. There was little to separate the pair in the first set and after exchanging three breaks of serve it headed into a tie-break. The tie-break itself was a similarly tight affair, but it was Kuznetsova who held her nerve at the crucial moment, reeling off the final three points to take the set.
 
Kuznetsova carried this momentum into the second set to secure an early service break, and despite surrendering this break in the fifth game surged ahead once more to take three of the final four games to close out a 76(4) 63 victory. Kuznetsova's compatriots Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina also enjoyed fourth round triumphs in the Florida sun, seeing off Sabine Lisicki and Lindsay Davenport respectively.
 
Dementieva was runner-up at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park four years ago and, if she can continue the form which saw her brush aside German wildcard Lisicki 63 62, few would bet against her going one better this time around. Meeting the 26-year-old Muscovite next is No.4 seed Jelena Jankovic, who took her place in the last eight courtesy of a hard-fought 64 75 win over Zheng Jie of China.
 
No.13 seed Safina ended the title aspirations of America's Lindsay Davenport with a clinical display of baseline tennis on Stadium court. After ousting No.2 seed Ana Ivanovic in the third round, Davenport was flying high entering her clash with Safina, but there was to be no repeat performance and 34 unforced errors contributed to a disappointing 63 64 defeat. Facing Safina for a place in the semifinals will be the winner of Monday evening's match-up between Vera Zvonareva and Ai Sugiyama.