NEW YORK, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Top seed and former champion Serena Williams blew past Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-1, Sunday to earn a berth in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships.
Because of persistent rains, the Williams-Bedanova match was the only one completed all day, leaving the tournament with a busy Monday schedule.
Williams waited out a rain delay of six hours, 40 minutes before taking the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium and then needed just 41 minutes to dispatch the 20th-seeded Bedanova.
Other singles matches were moved to outside courts in order to get as much tennis in as possible, but rain began to fall again and it forced postponement of the rest of the action.
Seeking her third consecutive Grand Slam title, Williams roared through the first set in 18 minutes and simply overpowered her opponent, producing 16 winners and just one unforced error in the set. Overall, Williams had 35 winners and five unforced errors to five winners and six unforced errors for Bedanova.
Williams never faced a break point. She has defeated Bedanova in all three of their meetings and has not surrendered more than four games in a set. They last met in the 2001 Australian Open, where Williams rolled, 6-2, 6-2.
Williams and older sister Venus are the top two seeds at the Open and are trying to produce the fourth all-Williams final in the last five Grand Slam events. Serena Williams has lost a total of 10 games in winning four matches and reaching the quarterfinals.
"When I play better players, I tend to raise the level of my game," Williams said. "I love playing serve and volleyers. I really get a thrill playing serve and volleyers. I have a specific strategy, but I will not let anyone in on it, except for maybe Venus."
Greg Rusedski had a 5-4 lead over Pete Sampras and they were on serve in the first set when play was stopped while Thomas Enqvist won the first set against Tommy Haas, 6-4.
Among the matches scheduled for Arthur Ashe Court Monday will be Jennifer Capriati vs. Amy Frazier, Alex Corretja vs. Andy Roddick, Jan-Michael Gambill vs. Andre Agassi and Chanda Rubin vs. Venus Williams.
The last match of the night will be top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt vs. Jiri Novak.
Sampras, who lost in the Open final the past two years to Russia's Marat Safin and Hewitt, is looking to salvage a dismal year. Sampras is the all-time leader with 13 Grand Slam tournament victories, but he has not won a tournament since Wimbledon 2000, a span of 33 events.
