Serena Williams made her latest fashion statement and offered some eye-popping tennis as well Monday, beating 16-year-old Maria Sharapova of Russia 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open.
Playing her third match following an eight-month layoff, Williams overpowered a dangerous opponent. She smacked nine aces and 26 winners, including one backhand that sounded as though it had been struck with a baseball bat.
Williams also created a buzz with her newest outfit. Gone was the much-discussed corset dress of the earlier rounds, replaced by a revealing two-piece outfit with a fitted tank top, bare midriff and hot pants. She wore chandelier earrings, a navel ring and tennis shoes.
Accenting the bold ensemble were some of the game's most ferocious strokes. After a slow start, the top-seeded Williams began to blast away, and Sharapova could only watch and shake her head as shots whizzed past.
Williams' quarterfinal opponent will be fellow American Jill Craybas, who rallied to upset No. 9 Paola Suarez of Argentina 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2). No. 29 Karolina Sprem of Croatia eliminated No. 10 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Sharapova has already won two tournament titles and climbed to 23rd in the rankings, but the young Russian was unable to counter Williams' power. Three aces gave Williams the final game of the first set, and she won eight of the next nine points to take charge of the second set.
The victory was Williams' 15th in a row at Key Biscayne, where she has won the title the past two years. The tournament is her first since undergoing knee surgery after winning Wimbledon in July.
The men
American Vince Spadea shrugged off his failure to make the US Davis Cup team and edged Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (3). US captain Patrick McEnroe picked Mardy Fish for the squad Monday over the 29-year-old Spadea, who won the first tournament title of his career this month at Scottsdale, Arizona.
"I wasn't expecting him to put me on the team, so it wasn't a huge [letdown]," Spadea said.
Also advancing was No. 19-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain.
Andy Roddick's rocket serves kept coming back. His backhand looked shaky. His lead disappeared. And when Jonas Bjorkman saved a point with a behind-the-back shot, Roddick feared trouble.
"I was thinking, `This is really beautiful,'" Roddick said. "He hit that shot, and now we're at 30-all at 3-3 in the third set."
But Roddick won 10 of the next 13 points to close out a tense victory, beating Bjorkman 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
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