Serena Williams lookin fly

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Melbourne, Australia (Sports Network) - Serena Williams remained on target for her fourth Australian Open title as the second-seeded American beat China's Peng Shuai, 6-1, 6-4, in third-round action Saturday.

Williams fired 10 aces and won half of her 12 break point chances. Williams was down 3-1 in the second set before rallying and took advantage of four double faults from Peng, who until this year had never advanced past the second round here.

"It was definitely a lot better than my second round," said Williams. "But I'm still trying to work on some things and hoping they'll come together."

The reigning U.S. Open champion and former world No. 1 Williams owns nine major titles, including ones in Melbourne in each odd year since 2003. She has yet to drop a set at this fortnight.

Up next for Williams will be 13th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Azarenka defeated 20th-seeded Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, the 2006 champion, 6-4, 6-2.

"It's a little bit frustrating to come out with only six games today," said Mauresmo, also the 2006 Wimbledon champion. "But I did not play well enough at the key points, whether it was in the first set or second set. First set I had the lead early on, but then was not able to really keep it up not serving good enough."

Fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva closed out third-round action with a competitive 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 victory over local favorite Samantha Stosur. Dementieva led a Russian resurgence Down

Under, becoming the fifth Russian to make it to the fourth round this year.
Also Saturday, eighth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova got past 31st seed Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4. Kuznetsova's next foe will be 22nd seed Zheng Jie of China. Zheng topped Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-2, 6-2.

In other results Saturday, 18th seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia downed France's Virginie Razzano, 7-5, 7-5, No. 21 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain downed 12th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta, 6-4, 6-1, and Carla Suarez Navarro defeated fellow Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, 6-1, 6-4, in another third-round match. Garrigues and Sanchez will play each other in the fourth round.

The top half of the draw plays fourth-round matches Sunday, led by top-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia as she battle France's Marion Bartoli, the 16th seed and 2007 Wimbledon runner-up.

The U.S. Open runner-up Jankovic has never won a major title, but is still ranked No. 1 in the world among the women.

Third-seeded Russian Dinara Safina tangles with 15th-seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, while Australian Jelena Dokic faces 29th seed Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. The 19-year-old Kleybanova ousted fifth-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic, last year's runner-up, in the third round.

The other matchup Sunday will be between a pair of Russians as seventh seed Vera Zvonareva faces No. 10 seed Nadia Petrova.
01/24 08:52:37 ET