Wimbledon champion Venus Williams breezed past India's Sania Mirza 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals at the Stanford women's singles tournament.

　　Venus, who declined to show her dominant form that helped her win Wimbledon earlier this month, rode her powerful serve for easy points against the 18-year-old Mirza on Wednesday.

　　She hit three straight aces in her first service game of the second set, and then gave two more in her next service game.

　　"My serve definitely picked up," said Williams, who participated in Fed Cup in Moscow after Wimbledon. "I played a lot better than I expected, but I also didn't feel I played that well."

　　Venus, who won this event in 2000 and 2002 but lost to top-seeded Lindsay Davenport in last year's final, will play Friday against seventh-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia-Montenegro, a 6-0, 6-3 winner over Amy Frazier earlier Wednesday.

　　Defending champion Davenport plays her first match Thursday against Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany.

　　Earlier the day, third seed Patty Schnyder advanced to the quarterfinals, rallying in the second set to beat 30th-ranked French woman Marion Bartoli 6-4, 7-5.

　　Sixth-seeded Nathalie Dechy of France downed America's Lisa Raymond 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, and 7-Jelena Jankovic from Sebia and Montenegro beat Amy Frazier of United States 6-0, 6-3.