Serena Williams through to Australian Open quarterfinals

Serena Williams has advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals with a scrappy 7-5, 6-4 win over Barbora Strycova to open play at Rod Laver Arena on Monday.

Williams is attempting to win her Open era-record 23 Grand Slam singles title, her seventh Australian Open championship and, with top-ranked Angelique Kerber’s fourth-round loss, a return to the No. 1 ranking.

She had 23 unforced errors in the first set and needed eight set points to clinch it. There were seven breaks of serve in the set, including the first four games.

On the final point of the set a backhand by Williams bounced flatly on Strycova’s side of the court. The Czech player couldn’t pick it up and Williams had the first set in 55 minutes.

Williams took a 4-1 lead in the second set and had her serve broken when she served for the match at 5-3. But Williams came back in the next game to break Strycova’s serve and clinch the match.

Williams next plays the winner of a later match between Ekaterina Makarova and Johanna Konta.

Warinka, Tsonga and Federer advance to quarterfinals

U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka, the No. 4 seed and an emerging title favorite, beat Andreas Seppi, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), and will play 2008 Australian finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals.

Looming as a dark horse is Roger Federer, winner of a record 17 Grand Slam titles. Seeded 17th after six months on the sidelines, Federer came back from 5-1 down in the first set to outlast No. 5 Kei Nishikori, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, his 200th win over a top-10 player. He’ll meet Zverev in the quarterfinals.

Bryan brothers still in hunt for seventh Aussie title

In doubles, brothers Bob and Mike Bryan from Camarillo advanced to the quarterfinals in their bid for a seventh title at Melbourne, a day after announcing that they were retiring from Davis Cup competition after 14 years of representing the United States. The 38-year-old twins went 24-5, the most victories by a doubles team in U.S. Davis Cup history.