LONDON, June 27, 2009 (AFP) - Defending champion Venus Williams avenged one of the most embarrassing defeats of her career on Saturday by sweeping into the last 16 at Wimbledon with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Carla Suarez Navarro.
Williams will now tackle former world number one Ana Ivanovic who was left to carry Serbian hopes after sixth seed Jelena Jankovic suffered a shock exit against American qualifier Melanie Oudin.
Williams, 29, was unceremoniously bundled out of the Australian Open by unseeded Spaniard Suarez Navarro in the second round in January despite holding a 5-2 lead in thr final set.
But Venus, the third seed, made amends in clinical fashion on Saturday to keep alive her bid to become the first woman to win a hat-trick of Wimbledon singles' titles since Steffi Graf claimed three in a row from 1991 to 1993.
Venus once again played with her left knee swathed in bandages but was hardly restricted as she eased past Suarez Navarro in one hour and 21 minutes.
The five-time Wimbledon champion has yet to drop a set in three rounds this year and her winning streak at the All England Club has now reached 17 matches.
Suarez Navarro, the world number 34, has already reached two Grand Slam quarter-finals at the tender age of 20, but she never threatened to repeat her Australian Open heroics.
A break for Venus in the opening game set the tone. With memories of that Melbourne defeat driving her on, Williams was quickly 4-0 up and took the set without surrending a game.
Suarez Navarro had managed to test Williams a little more in the second set, but it couldn't last. The former world number one upped her game, broke for a 5-4 lead and served out the match.
Williams said: "I was really enjoying myself out there. She's a fast and competitive player so I was happy to close it out.
"When you're winning at Wimbledon there's not much better than that."
Meanwhile, Jankovic, the world number one only last August, was knocked out by 17-year-old Oudin, the world number 124, who claimed a famous 6-7 (8/10), 7-5, 6-2 victory.
Jankovic, who has been struggling with blisters and a broken toenail, was hampered by injury and heat exhaustion during a gruelling match on Court Three.
She called for treatment three times before finally cracking in the final set to continue a disappointing year for the Serb.
Oudin, playing in her first Wimbledon, will face China's Li Na or 11th seed Agnieszka Radwanska in her first Grand Slam fourth round appearance.
While Jankovic struggled, her compatriot Ivanovic showed signs of recapturing her former glories during an impressive 7-5, 6-2 victory over Australian 18th seed Samantha Stosur.
A year ago Ivanovic arrived in south-west London on top of the world rankings following her French Open victory. But a miserable run of results since that Paris triumph have left her outside the top 10 for the first time in two years.
The 13th seed, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2007, clearly has the game for grass however and was too strong for Stosur.
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