Maria Sharapova and a troika of Russian compatriots blazed a record-breaking trail at Wimbledon on Monday while leading men's contenders Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt were almost as dominant.
On a frenzied day when all 16 fourth round matches were crammed into the schedule, women's top seed Lindsay Davenport won a three-set battle with Belgian Kim Clijsters and U.S. compatriot Venus Williams tasted some sweet sisterly revenge.
Defending champion Sharapova was joined by Anastasia Myskina, Nadia Petrova and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last eight, a record representation for a single nation at that stage of a grand slam women's singles.
Second seed Sharapova dispatched Nathalie Dechy of France 6-4, 6-2 victory on Court One.
"I'm playing better and better," said the 18-year-old after her fourth consecutive straight sets win of a so-far flawless title defence.
U.S. men's second seed Roddick cowed Argentine claycourter Guillermo Coria 6-3, 7-6, 6-4 although third seed Hewitt had to fight a little harder, losing a third-set tiebreak before beating American Taylor Dent in four sets.
Clijsters, the 15th seed who lost to Davenport in three sets at this year's French Open, battled gamely on Centre Court to force a third set but double-faulted on match point to hand the 29-year-old American a 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 success.
Awaiting Sharapova in the quarter-finals is eighth seed Petrova, who saved two match points before beating Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.
WOBBLY START
Gutsy ninth seed Myskina came through her third dramatic three-setter in four matches 1-6, 7-6, 7-5 against compatriot Elena Dementieva, the sixth seed whom she beat in the 2004 French Open final.
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She will face Davenport next while Myskina's quarter-final opponent is third seed Amelie Mauresmo.
A semi-finalist on her last two Wimbledon visits, the French number one overcame a wobbly start to beat yet another Russian Elena Likhovtseva 6-4, 6-0.
Her compatriot Mary Pierce, the surprise French Open finalist earlier this month, brushed aside Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-1 to reach her first Wimbledon quarter-final since 1996.
She will next face Venus, who avenged her sister Serena's shock third-round loss to fellow American Jill Craybas by thrashing the 30-year-old 6-0, 6-2 on court two, the scene of Craybas's upset in dwindling light on Saturday.
"I definitely wanted to do it a little bit for my sister, but mostly for me," said the twice former champion.
ANCIC OUT
Hewitt employed his raking service returns to quell the square-shouldered Dent, winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 to set up an intriguing last-eight meeting with Feliciano Lopez.
"I felt like I went up a notch today," said the chirpy Australian.
Lopez upset last year's semi-finalist Mario Ancic of Croatia, the 10th seed, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the last eight at a grand slam for the first time.
He therefore became the first Spaniard in 33 years to reach the men's quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
Fernando Gonzalez, meanwhile, became the first Chilean to reach the last eight at Wimbledon since 1985 with his 7-6, 7-6, 6-3 victory over Russia's Mikhail Youzhny.
His dubious reward is a probable quarter-final with defending champion Roger Federer, who was due to play the last match on Centre Court later on Monday against Spanish claycourter Juan Carlos Ferrero.
French 19-year-old Richard Gasquet proved no match for 2002 runner-up David Nalbandian of Argentina and was swept aside 6-4, 7-6, 6-0 by 18th seed.
In the last eight the Argentine faces 12th seed and 2002 Australian Open Thomas Johansson after the 30-year-old Swede staved off the lancing serve of Belarussian Max Mirnyi 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time.
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