Sportmaster International

Williams will play Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn in the last eight

Venus was never close to her best form against Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova but always looked firmly in control.The defending champion let a 5-1 second-set lead slip away but sealed a 6-3 6-4 win on her fifth match-point.Serena was simply too powerful for her fellow American Bethany Mattek and swept to a 6-3 6-3 win.With second seed Jelena Jankovic, who was scheduled to meet Venus in the quarter-finals,

losing to Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn, the women’s draw continues to open up.And that is good news for the Williams sisters, who could meet in a final here for the first time since 2003.Between them, they have won six of the last eight Wimbledon women’s titles, with Serena’s successes both coming against her sister in the finals of 2002 and 2003. 606: DEBATE With Jelena Jankovic out it looks like they should just hand out the title to one of the Williams sisters *pizzdofwidie Their big-hitting game is undoubtedly best suited to grass and has allowed four-time champion Venus to win her four matches here so far this year without dropping a set.She has done so despite looking prone to errors and her win against Kleybanova was achieved in similar style.Venus took time to get to grips with the Russian’s serve but once she put her under pressure, she quickly broke to take a 5-3 lead.But the seventh seed was not exactly dominant on her own delivery and relied more on Kleybanova’s mistakes as she served out for the set.The number of loose shots being played by the world number 42 increased at the start of the second set and a clean forehand winner down the line saw her move a break up.Kleybanova continued to unravel and Venus looked on the brink of victory at 4-1 before she herself wobbled.Venus had to save two break points at 15-40 before taking that game thanks to a contentious line call that left Kleybanova stunned.But, to her credit, Kleybanova’s challenge did not crumple there and instead she held serve, then fought to save three match points before breaking Venus.Klebanova held again to force the champion to serve out for the match at 5-4, almost breaking again before Venus finally sealed victory on her fifth match point.Serena had a far easier time of things against Mattek, who could not live with the power and pace of the sixth-seed’s groundstrokes.