Serena too Strong for Peer in Rome; Schnyder Next

Williams, the No.8 seed this week, struggled to break away from the No.11-seeded Israeli early on in the match, but once she did she barely let up. From 2-all in the opening set it was all Williams, who reeled off nine of the next 11 games to go up a set and 5-1, eventually clinching the 63 63 win.

"We had such hard matches in the past; I always had a 7-6 or 7-5 set against her, so I was expecting her to stay out there and go the distance," Williams said. "I knew she was going to be a tougher opponent on clay so I think I did pretty well. She played well, especially the last couple of games, and never gave up."

But things weren't perfect for Williams, particularly on her first serve; it was 49% for the match, and she only won on 56% of those points that followed. Near the beginning of the second set, she smacked a ball out of frustration after missing one of her first serves, nearly clipping a linesperson.

"I felt so bad; I need to go to that anger management class, a 12-step program," Williams added. "Obviously I wasn't going for the line judge. Thank God I didn't hit her. See, that's what happens: you get angry and lose control, and next thing you know you could take someone out."

Awaiting the American in the next round is Patty Schnyder, who beat Samantha Stosur, 64 64. It could be a tricky match-up for Williams, whose only prior loss to the No.14-seeded Swiss came on clay, in Charleston, South Carolina in 2002.

"It's going to be a good match," Williams added on the looming encounter. "She's really tricky and hits those crazy shots. She plays well here - she plays really well on the clay. And I've had some good matches against her."

Filling out the quarterfinal spots were No.2 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, No.3 seed Jelena Jankovic, No.6 seed Dinara Safina, No.10 seed Elena Dementieva, No.9 seed Daniela Hantuchova and an unseeded Anabel Medina Garrigues. Jankovic had perhaps the toughest encounter, rallying back from a 5-3 second set hole to defeat Alona Bondarenko, 64 75.

Dementieva advanced when No.5 seed Nadia Petrova retired after a lower back strain trailing 4-3 in the first set.

"I had an accident in the gym; I think it has to do with that," Petrova said. "I was doing better each day, but yesterday I had some tightness around it. Today I was perfect in the warm-up, but in the match I stretched to a forehand then felt some sharpness and burning. From that point it just was getting worse and worse."

"I feel sorry that we finished it that way but it happens," said Dementieva, who is on the comeback trail from her own injury problems, having missed roughly two months due to a stress fracture in her ribs earlier this season. "For me to play against someone like Nadia is really good experience."

The doubles draw was shaken up as well on Thursday, as teams were trying for the quarterfinals. Fresh off a Tier I clay court title run in Berlin last week, No.1 seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur were bounced quickly, falling to the unseeded tandem of Janette Husarova and Meghann Shaughnessy, 60 64; and No.4-seeded Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama blew a 5-1 second set lead in losing to Italian tandem Tathiana Garbin and Roberta Vinci, 36 75 119.

The first quarterfinal in the team discipline was played, with No.3-seeded combo Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbs pulling off a 36 63 1210 win over No.5 seeds Sun Tiantian and Yan Zi of China. The other three quarterfinals take place on Friday, along with all four singles quarterfinal matches. (WTA)