Serena roars into Olympic QFs

Published November 20, 2014

Wimbledon champion Serena Williams was an easy third-round winner Wednesday at the Olympic Tennis Event.

The fourth-seeded former world No. 1 star lambasted 13th-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-0 on the famed Centre Court at the venerable All England Club. Williams also whipped the 2008 Beijing bronze medalist Zvonareva in a Wimbledon finale here two years ago.

The Day-5 rout was over in 51 minutes, as the powerful American fired 12 aces, did not commit a double fault, and struck 29 more winners (32-3) than her helpless Russian counterpart.

The 30-year-old Williams, who's now 10-0 on grass this year, owns 14 major singles titles and needs an Olympic gold medal to complete a career "Golden Slam."

Williams' quarterfinal opponent will be eighth-seeded former top-ranked Dane Caroline Wozniacki or Slovak Daniela Hantuchova.

In a battle of former No. 1s on Wednesday, Belgian star Kim Clijsters upended 11th-seeded Serb Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 6-4. Clijsters is a four-time Grand Slam champ, while Ivanovic is a former French Open titlist.

Fourteenth-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko moved into the round of eight with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory over German Julia Goerges.

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