U.S. Open: Venus Williams, Clijsters, Querrey dominate

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Venus Williams turned her night time black sparkles-as-fireworks dress into a daytime red sparkles-as-fireworks dress but kept her tennis the same, often aggressive, sometimes filled with incomprehensible errors but when it mattered that 124 mile per hour serve or grunting from her toes volley pushed away 16th-seeded Shahar Peer from the quarterfinals.

Instead it will be third-seeded Williams, who won 7-6 (3), 6-3, who will meet French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinals. Schiavone had no trouble beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova under blue skies and quirky winds Sunday at the U.S. Open.

Defending champion Kim Clijsters also quickly put an end to any upset thoughts of resurgent Ana Ivanovic, who was ranked No. 1 in the world in 2008 when she won the French Open. Ivanovic’s ranking had dropped to No. 40 but she was playing with confidence until hitting Clijsters who won 6-2, 6-1 in 59 minutes.

‘Once I was up 3-1,’ Clijsters said, ‘I felt like I was dictating really well during the points and using the two sides of the court well. With the wind, I think it’s something you can either look at it as something frustrating or you can look at it as, okay, this is something that tactically can help you a little bit.’

Sam Querrey, 22 from Thousand Oaks, and who is seeded 20th, has never made it past the quarterfinals of a major tournament. He moved into the Open fourth round with his 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over 14th-seeded Nicolas Alamgro of Spain.

Querrey will next get the winner of the match between fourth-seeded Andy Murray and 25th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka. Querrey beat Murray last month in the finals of the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles.

-- Diane Pucin, reporting from New York