Top seeds roll on

Pierce, who slipped outside the top 50 last year after struggling to overcome back problems, provided stiff resistance early in both sets but was gradually overwhelmed by third seed Henin's pinpoint groundstrokes.

The French Open champion showed no sign of the hand injury that forced her out of the final in Den Bosch the week before Wimbledon -- clinching a routine victory on her third match point in 53 minutes.

Henin, a finalist here in 2001, will play Svetlana Kuznetsova who outplayed Mara Sharapova 6-1 2-6 7-5.

The number eight seed, now fully recovered from eye surgery to remove sunspots, looked to be back to her best, placing her shots superbly and serving with unerring accuracy.

Myskina, one of five Russians in the last 16, was outgunned and outrun by Capriati who raced to a 4-0 in the first 15 minutes and never let her dominance slip.

Capriati had one of her biggest fans courtside. "I thought she looked great today," said a clearly delighted Matthew Perry. The actor and star of "Friends" was the first to rise to applaud Capriati after her convincing win.

The 27-year-old Capriati now faces the toughest test of all -- she takes on compatriot Serena for a place in the last four.

The 59-minute victory enabled Venus to avenge her fourth-round defeat to the 18-year-old at Roland Garros earlier this month and set up a last-eight meeting with 1999 Wimbledon champion Lindsay Davenport.

The American fourth seed, champion here in 2000 and 2001, put in a devastating display of power and precision in the first set to streak to a 5-0 lead in just 16 minutes.

One of a record five women from her country to reach the last 16, Zvonareva managed to avoid a complete humiliation by finally registering on the court two scoreboard in the sixth game. But that only gave the 16th seed a brief respite as the towering Venus prowled the court with a look of intent, finishing off the set with a thunderbolt ace.

Although Zvonareva managed to break the mighty Venus serve early in the second to draw level at 2-2, the Russian finally bowed out when she failed to control a rasping forehand groundstroke from the American.

Davenport, champion here in 1999, broke serve in the opening game of the match and wrapped up the first set in 29 minutes under a brooding grey sky.

The fifth seed stepped up a gear in the second, winning it in just 17 minutes before the rain, which had delayed the start of the match, started to fall again.

"We were really eager to get out there and get back in again, just in case its started raining," Davenport said afterwards.

Asagoe, who beat ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova in the second round last week, had no answer to the American's searing groundstrokes and failed to take a single point off Davenport's serve in the second set.

"I think my serve is getting better," said Davenport. "I've served well here and I haven't been broken much in the last few matches."

Asked about her clash with the elder of the Williams sisters, she said: "I'm going to just go out there and try to be aggressive, and try to serve well above all."

The top seed and defending champion rattled off the first four games in nine devastating minutes to leave her opponent, one of a record five Russian women in the fourth round, looking shellshocked.

Dementieva recovered her senses to hold serve at 0-4 and briefly threatened to make a match of it when she broke the American with a clever wrong-footing forehand.

But Serena, who came into the match having won 20 consecutive singles sets at Wimbledon, hit back immediately to clinch the opener in 22 minutes.

Dementieva, who had never faced her fellow 21-year-old before, saved three break points in the first game of the second set but there was no escape for the Russian.

Two more service breaks gave Serena a 5-2 lead and she clinched victory on her third match point when Dementieva lashed a backhand wide.

Clijsters quickly settled into her rhythm after an hour's rain delay on court one and her crunching forehand proved too much for Sugiyama, the 13th seed and doubles partner.

The 20-year-old Belgian needed only 25 minutes to take the first set and took a minute less to wrap up the second, sealing her 49-minute victory with a simple forehand volley.

Clijsters is on course for a probable semi-final against 2000 and 2001 Wimbledon champion Venus Williams of the United States.

The Belgian's win was her 50th singles victory of the year. The last player to reach their half-century so early in the season was Martin Navratilova in 1982.

She takes on Italy's Silvia Farina Elia in the quarter-finals after beatin Argentina's Paola Suarez 7-5 7-6