Sport
Madrid 2013: Serena Williams advances to quarterfinals
Serena Williams in action against Maria Kirilenko. PHOTO/Juan Medina/Reuters
World No.1 Serena Williams cruised into the Madrid Open quarter-finals as she dismantled 13th seed Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-1 in just an hour and four minutes on Thursday.
Williams didn’t even face a break point during the match as she steamrollered the Russian, dropping only one more game from 3-3 in the first set.
The second set was straight forward for the 15-time Grand Slam champion as she raced into a 5-0 lead and then served out in style to book her place in the quarters, where she will face Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues.
And Williams believes taking some pace off her serve to get a higher percentage of first serves into court helped her relax and play more fluently than in her earlier rounds.
“I’ve just been missing a little bit of my serve when I was hitting it harder, so I took some pace off and just didn’t hit it as hard as I usually do,” she said.
“It was better today. I just felt really relaxed today. I felt like I was just taking my time so hopefully I can keep calm and relaxed.”
Williams is unbeaten on clay in eight matches so far this season, but after a similarly positive start to last season on the clay was followed by shocking loss in the first round of the French Open, she says she has learned not to get overconfident ahead of Paris, where she will head at the end of this month.
