Melbourne: Serena Williams demolished Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 6-1 to power into the fourth round of the Australian Open tennis tournament here Saturday while top seed Simona Halep tamed the elder Williams sister Venus to set up a quarterfinal showdown with the 23-time Grand Slam champion.
The 37-year-old Serena, chasing a record-extending eighth Melbourne title in the professional era, barely broke sweat on a sunny afternoon at Rod Laver Arena as she racked up 20 winners and beat the 57th-ranked 18-year-old in a breezy 67 minutes.
Yastremska rolled her right ankle midway through the match and took a medical time-out to have her foot bandaged when trailing 4-1 in the second set.
It stalled defeat only briefly, however, as Serena broke her a third time in the set and claimed the match when the Ukrainian sprayed a cross-court forehand wide.
Chasing her 24th Grand Slam title, the american has conceded only nine games at the tournament and not dropped a set but may finally have a test when she plays the fourth round.
Meanwhile, the Romanian Halep proved her title credentials with a breezy 6-2, 6-3 third round win over multiple Grand Slam winner Venus later in the day.
Coming to the year’s first Grand Slam on a five-match losing streak and without a coach, Halep had to grind her way through the first two rounds with tough three-set wins. She started positively against Venus, though, and broke her twice to take the first set.
Venus showed more fight in the second and there was an early trade of breaks before Halep broke again to go 4-3 up before converting her first match point with a forehand winner down the line.
