Fourth Round Is Breeze for Top Women

Serena Williams blew a few kisses to the crowd Monday, signed more than a few autographs on Court 2, and arrived in the interview room for, as she has often said, “my daily dose of me.”

The dose, as usual, was altogether unusual:

* On why there are so many U.S. women remaining: “At least on the female side, it is looking up. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s McDonald’s.”

* On whether she can take her sister’s serve from inside the baseline: “Maybe. It depends. If Venus hits 127, I would either have to block it back or go in immediately for wrist surgery.”

The reigning U.S. Open champion, seeded eighth here, was formidable in her 6-1, 6-1 victory over Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand, winning in 53 minutes.

That result was typical of the women’s fourth-round matches. All were completed in straight sets.

The most interesting quarterfinal matches today appear to be top-seeded Martina Hingis versus fifth-seeded Venus Williams, and defending champion and second-seeded Lindsay Davenport versus sixth-seeded Monica Seles.

Hingis and Venus Williams have not played each other this year and have never met on grass courts. Hingis leads the series, 9-5. Davenport is 5-2 against Seles and has not lost to her since 1997.

Serena Williams will play Lisa Raymond, and if successful, will play either her sister in the semifinals or Hingis in a rematch of their 1999 U.S. Open final.

“She’s a tough player,” Venus said of her sister. “When the time comes, got to step up.”

Hingis, who defeated Anke Huber of Germany, 6-1, 6-2, has struggled when playing the Williams sisters in consecutive rounds.

“So far, I lost all the time against the second one when I had to play them both,” Hingis said. “But I always had to play them consecutive days. That’s very hard. You have a three-setter. You are happy you made it through. Then the next day, the other one is waiting.”

In the other quarterfinal, 17-year-old Jelena Dokic of Australia faces Magui Serna of Spain.

“It’s funny looking at the draw,” said Davenport, who defeated Jennifer Capriati, 6-3, 6-3. “There’s some spots where I think some of us would rather be in and then some spots of the draw are unbelievably tough.

“I think Martina has her work cut out for her tomorrow and I have mine definitely cut out. It’s fun. You want good matchups and good rivalries that develop when top players play each other more.”

Wimbledon Glance

* Attendance: 38,247. Last year: 36,884.

* Seeded losers (men): No. 8 Tim Henman to No. 10 Mark Philippoussis, No. 9 Thomas Enqvist to Jan-Michael Gambill.

* Seeded losers (women): No. 9 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario to No. 6 Monica Seles, No. 11 Anke Huber to No. 1 Martina Hingis.

* Stat of the day: Serena Williams won 100% of her first-serve points against Tamarine Tanasugarn.

* Quote of the day: “You can’t play these two weeks like you’re playing for history. You’ve got to play like you’re playing another Wimbledon.” --Pete Sampras