World No.1 Serena Williams cruised into the Madrid Open quarterfinals as she dismantled 13th seed Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-1 in just 1 hour and 4 minutes on Thursday.

The American held a perfect 6-0 head-to-head record with the Russian before the match and never looked in danger of extending that streak to seven out of seven.

Williams didn't even face a break point during the match as she broke at 3-3 to move ahead and then again in the final game of the first set.

The second was even more straightforward for the 15-time Grand Slam champion as she raced into a 5-0 lead and then served out in style to book her place in the quarters where she will face Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues.

And Williams believes taking some pace off her serve to get a higher percentage of first serves into court helped her relax and play more fluently than in her earlier rounds.

"I've just been missing a little bit of my serve when I was hitting it harder, so I took some pace off and just didn't hit it as hard as I usually do," she said.

The American is unbeaten on clay in eight matches so far this season, but after a similarly positive start to last season on the clay was followed by a shocking loss in the first round of the French Open, she says she has learned not to get overconfident ahead of Paris, where she will head at the end of this month.

"I think more than anything I learned not to become overconfident," she said.

"I think I'll just take that with me to the French this year. I think I was a little confident last year and I felt really good; this year I'm going to take every moment like it's my last."

World No.2 Maria Sharapova also continued her stroll into the quarterfinals without even losing a set so far as she overcame Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 7-5.

The Russian, who could overtake Williams at the top of the rankings should she win the title this week, broke the Lisicki serve four times to prevail in a disjointed opening set.

Serve was more dominant in the second set with both players exchanging just the one break early on before Sharapova secured a crucial second break at 5-5 and served it out to take her place in the last eight.

And the reigning French Open champion believes her game on the clay is rounding into shape nicely as she prepares to begin the defense of her title later this month.

"I think when you win a Grand Slam on a surface, it would be pretty mean of me to say that I'm not comfortable on the surface," she said Thursday.

"It took me many years to get to the level of where I am today. It certainly didn't happen overnight."

AFP - Global Times