Serena Williams made the world's top-ranked woman look like a beginner, beating nemesis Justine Henin 6-2, 6-0 in the Sony Ericsson Open quarterfinals on Tuesday. Serena won the final 10 games by playing nearly flawless tennis, while Henin unraveled after she double-faulted three times to fall behind 4-2. “It wasn't easy,” Serena said. “It was just the fact of me making the right shots at the right time.” A few hours later, Svetlana Kuznetsova prevented an all-Williams semifinal. Kuznetsova, the 2006 Key Biscayne champion, eliminated three-time champ Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4. The older Williams was hurt by eight double faults, and she converted only one of six break points. Top-ranked Roger Federer advanced to the men's quarterfinals by beating Jose Acasuso of Argentina 7-6 (5), 6-2. No. 2 Rafael Nadal swept Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-4, 6-4. Serena's rout of Henin was a stunner, given the drama usually generated by the rivalry. Serena had lost their past three meetings, all in 2007, at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. But Serena beat Henin in the Key Biscayne final a year ago, overcoming two championship points. “I wish this was a Grand Slam,” Serena said with a laugh. “I'm going to try to do this at a Grand Slam, and not only at this tournament.” Conditioning can be an issue for Serena, but she has never looked more agile than in the past week. No longer forced to rely on mere power, she lobbed over Henin to stay in rallies, chased down a drop shot to hit a winner and even played serve and volley. The Belgian, meanwhile, struggled even with her signature backhand and found herself stuck at the baseline. “I was too defensive, for sure,” Henin said. “Against this kind of player, you don't have any chance if you play that game, and I didn't have really any courage to do something else. When you're on the court, it's not that easy. Now I can say it wasn't enough.” Federer, still seeking his first tournament title this year after a bout with mononucleosis, had 31 winners and only 11 unforced errors. He lost just 10 points on his serve. “It's always nice when you feel well from the beginning on your serve,” he said. No. 6-seeded Andy Roddick rallied past Julien Benneteau of France 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to earn a shot at Federer on Thursday. Roddick is 1-15 against Federer and has lost their past 11 meetings. Nadal improved to 8-0 against Mathieu, but he'll take a 1-3 record into his quarterfinal with James Blake. Blake wobbled on Tuesday at the finish but beat Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-4. The No. 9-seeded Blake needed six match points in the final game to close out the victory. Guillermo Canas of Argentina, last year's runner-up, lost 6-4, 7-6 (6) to Igor Andreev of Russia, who will next meet Tomas Berdych. The Czech beat Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-2, 6-2 to reach his first quarterfinals since January at Sydney. Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia defeated Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 and ensured an unseeded player in the last eight for a 24th straight year. Next up for Tipsarevic, No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko, who struggled past Croatian wild card Mario Ancic 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Kiefer back in team Nicolas Kiefer will return to the Davis Cup after an absence of more than two years when Germany plays Spain in the quarterfinals from April 11-13, German captain Patrik Kuehnen announced on Tuesday. Kiefer, who has not played in the competition since February 2006, will be joined in the singles by Philipp Kohlschreiber, currently Germany's top ranked player at number 27. Philipp Petzschner and Michael Berrer make up the four-man squad for the tie to be played on a fast indoor court at the AWD Dome in Bremen. Tommy Haas had already said he would not be fit enough to join the team. “Nicolas is on his way back to the top,” Kuehnen said in a statement. __
