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Williams sisters sail into quarters

WIMBLEDON, England -- Serena Williams rushed to grab her racket bag and nearly was trampled by the grounds crew pulling a tarp across Centre Court as rain finally fell at Wimbledon.

It was the only time either Slammin' Sister was pushed around Monday.

"I almost got ran over, but I survived," Serena said. "I made it to another day."

After a 1-hour, 50-minute rain delay in the second set, the No.2-seeded Williams wrapped up a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Chanda Rubin to reach the quarterfinals. Older sister Venus, ranked No.1 and the two-time defending champion, defeated Lisa Raymond 6-1, 6-2.

They are two wins each from the third all-Williams Grand Slam final in 10 months.

"It's very important not to get overconfident, because everyone wants to beat a Williams right now," Serena said. "We're the top players."

On the fortnight's first wet day, with 35 mph winds and temperatures in the 50s, Tim Henman barely kept up his quest to give Britain its first Wimbledon men's title in 66 years. He needed smelling salts, loud crowd support and all of his opponent's 17 double faults to advance despite an upset stomach.

Down a break in both the fourth and fifth sets, Henman got past a faltering Michel Kratochvil 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (2-6), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. His potential semifinal opponent, top seed Lleyton Hewitt, was superb again. The U.S. Open champion made it to the quarters here for the first time by beating Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 for a fourth straight-set victory.

Three of 16 scheduled singles matches didn't finish. No.3 seed Jennifer Capriati of Wesley Chapel split two sets with Eleni Daniilidou, and Greg Rusedski -- the other British hope -- was headed to a fifth set against Xavier Malisse before play was called because of darkness. The Mark Philipoussis-Richard Krajicek match never started.

The men's quarters set so far: Hewitt vs. No.18 Sjeng Schalken, Henman vs. Andre Sa and No.22 Nicolas Lapentti vs. No.28 David Nalbandian.

The women's pairings: Venus Williams vs. qualifier Elena Likhovtseva, Serena Williams vs. No.11 Daniela Hantuchova, and Monica Seles vs. 2001 runner-up Justine Henin.

No.9 Amelie Mauresmo stopped the run of 134th-ranked qualifier Laura Granville 6-2, 6-2, and next meets the Capriati-Daniilidou winner.

Serena Williams lorded over each point against Rubin. Dictating play from the baseline, Williams had 35 winners to Rubin's eight, but also 19 errors to Rubin's seven.

This wasn't against some also-ran. Rubin, once ranked No.6, can hit hard and won a grass-court tuneup in Eastbourne last month.

But the French Open champion drove balls deep with a thud of a step and an "Uh!" of a grunt, moving into each stroke so much that she often finished points several feet inside the baseline.

Indeed, neither Williams plays classic grass-court tennis, rarely venturing to the net except to pound a short shot by an overwhelmed opponent. They are effective, though, with power off both wings and speedy serves.

Venus has won 18 straight matches at Wimbledon, last losing in the 1999 quarterfinals to Steffi Graf in three sets.

Henman was repeatedly in serious trouble against Kratochvil. Each time, the 45th-ranked Swiss player buckled.

Kratochvil served for the first set at 5-4 but had three double faults to lose that game and had another in the ensuing tiebreaker.

Rain interrupted with Henman up 4-1 in the third set, and he dropped five straight games after play resumed. Then came the first of five changeover visits by the trainer: three for Henman, who needed smelling salts and leg massages, and two for Kratochvil, who was treated for a cut on his right knee.

Kratochvil went up a break in the fourth set, then gave it back in the next game with four unforced errors. In the fifth set, as the match stretched beyond four hours, Kratochvil went up 2-0, but again handed the break back with two double faults.

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