PARIS, Feb 13: Women’s world No 1 Serena Williams raced into the quarter-finals of the Paris Open with a 6-1, 6-2 demolition of Croatian qualifier Karolina Sprem in a perfect day for the local favourites on Thursday.

The American top seed, who won the tournament in 1999 and 2003, will face France’s Emilie Loit on Friday for a semi-final spot after the qualifier reached the last eight on Wednesday.

Loit was joined in the last eight by compatriots Amelie Mauresmo, Alize Cornet and wild card Nathalie Dechy, who respectively beat Romania’s Monica Niculescu, Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova and Swiss Patty Schnyder.

Australian Open champion Williams won all her points on her first serve and ended Sprem’s ordeal with a return winner after 58 minutes on her first match point.

Earlier, second seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia alternated brilliant winners with clumsy errors to beat China’s Li Na 6-0, 3-6, 6-2.

Former world No 1 Jankovic, who had been made to work hard to beat Italy’s Francesca Schiavone in the previous round, looked to be on her way to an easy victory, opening up a 6-0, 3-1 lead.

She then started making a lot of unforced errors and allowed her opponent back into the match before taking control again in the decisive set.

The world No 3 saved three break points and wrapped it up on her first match point with a forehand passing shot that Li failed to retrieve.

Jankovic will next meet fifth-seeded Cornet, who recovered from a slow start to overcome Hantuchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.

World No 4 Elena Dementieva of Russia needed a set to adjust before outclassing compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-2 to set up a meeting with Dechy, who battled to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Swiss sixth seed Schnyder.

Number eight seed Mauresmo was the third Frenchwoman to progress on Thursday, with a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Niculescu, and will next take on Poland’s Agneszka Radwanska.

Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Second round: Nathalie Dechy (France) bt 6-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; 3-Elena Dementieva (Russia) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) 6-4, 6-2; 8-Amelie Mauresmo (France) bt Monica Niculescu (Romania) 6-1, 6-2; 1-Serena Williams (US) bt Karolina Sprem (Croatia) 6-1, 6-2; 2-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) bt Li Na (China) 6-0, 3-6, 6-2; 5-Alize Cornet (France) bt Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.

ANOTHER HARD GRIND

ROTTERDAM: Men’s world No 1 Rafael Nadal needed three sets to beat Bulgarian teenager Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 on Thursday and reach the quarter-finals of the World Indoor Tournament.

Nadal broke the 17-year-old Dimitrov in the first game but allowed him back on terms before he took the set after another break in the 11th game.

Dimitrov conquered the hearts of the 9,000 spectators as he won the second set but in the third Nadal proved too strong.

World No 4 Andy Murray recovered from a slow start to beat Italian baseliner Andreas Seppi 7-6, 7-5 in the second round.

Second seed Murray, who cruised past Ivan Ljubicic in the opening round, varied his game more against Seppi in a match containing several long rallies.

Murray next meets ‘lucky loser’ Marc Gicquel, who came into the tournament after the withdrawal of Robin Soderling.

Gicquel reached the last eight by defeating fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-3.

Croatian Mario Ancic avenged his third-round defeat at the Australian Open by eliminating fourth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, setting up a quarter-final with 2007 winner Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.

Michael Llodra, the 2008 champion, was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils.

Results:

Second round: 7-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) bt Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 7-6 (8-6), 6-2; 1-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) 7-5, 3-6, 6-2; 2-Andy Murray (Britain) bt Andreas Seppi (Italy) 7-6 (7-4), 7-5; 5-Gael Monfils (France) bt Michael Llodra (France) 6-4, 6-4; Marc Gicquel (France) bt Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 6-4, 6-3; Mario Ancic (Croatia) bt 4-Gilles Simon (France) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

FISH NETS ISNER

SAN JOSE (California): Mardy Fish held off big-serving John Isner 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 in the second round of the San Jose Open on Thursday.

Fish took the first set convincingly and led 3-0 in the second set tiebreak before his 6-foot-9 opponent battled back to even the match.

But the opportunistic Fish broke Isner while leading 6-5 in the final set to close out the match.

He had 13 aces to Isner’s 15.

Isner almost proved it against the fifth-seeded Fish until the American took advantage of a subdued final service game from his opponent.

Isner made two errors to fall behind 15-30 and missed a short backhand volley to open the door.

In other second-round action, top-seeded Andy Roddick dispatched Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 7-6 while James Blake enjoyed a straight sets win over Florent Serra, defeating the Frenchman 6-4, 6-3.

Argentine second seed Juan Martin Del Potro won 6-2, 6-2 against Kei Nishikori of Japan.

Sam Querrey knocked out Denis Gremelmayr of Germany 6-3, 6-2 and Todd Widom defeated Taylor Dent 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Results:

Second round: 1-Andy Roddick (US) bt Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); 2-Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) bt Kei Nishikori (Japan) 6-2, 6-2; 3-James Blake (US) bt Florent Serra (France) 6-4, 6-3; 6-Sam Querrey (US) bt Denis Gremelmayr (Germany) 6-3, 6-2; 5-Mardy Fish (US) bt John Isner (US) 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5; Todd Widom (US) bt Taylor Dent (US) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-2.—Reuters