(July 18, 2013) -- Serena Williams defeated Anna Tatishvili 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Collector Swedish Open in Bastad, Sweden, setting up a quarterfinal with fifth-seeded Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain.
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Williams, visiting the sleepy seaside town for the first time, has played to a packed house in both of her matches, and while she wasn't in her best form today against a player to whom she only dropped one game at Roland Garros, she was still happy to be through.
“It was okay,” Williams said. “I definitely should have won easier. I made a lot of errors, I lost focus.”
Williams struck seven aces, but only managed a 58 percent first-serve percentage against the 23-year-old Georgian. She was broken three times, but responded with six breaks of her own, including four in the first set.
“I love returning her serve,” Williams said. “It's a good match-up for me.”
Tatishvili didn't like the match-up much at all. The world No. 104 won only 17 of 47 points on serve, and surrendered six of 13 break points she faced.
Williams improves her clay-record since the beginning of 2012 to 42-1 with the win. She has not lost since last year's French Open, a streak that has now reached 25 matches.
In the quarterfinals, she'll take on another familiar opponent in Dominguez Lino. Williams notched a 6-2, 7-5 victory over the 32-year-old Spaniard at the Mutua Madrid Open earlier this year.
“She's so strong, she's a great clay-court player,” Williams said. “I think this is her favorite surface so it's a really, really tough quarterfinal match-up for me.”
Williams owns a 3-0 record against Dominguez Lino, having never dropped a set.
In other second-round action at Bastad on Thursday, Simona Halep's run of fine form was snapped when the Romanian was forced to withdraw with an undisclosed injury while trailing Italian Flavia Pennetta 2-0 in the third set. Halep, seeded second, had reeled off three straight non-Grand Slam titles in the last five weeks, losing only to Li Na at Wimbledon prior to Thursday's match.
Making a strong bid to become the WTA's most improved player in 2013, the 21-year-old is playing with a career-high ranking of 23 in the world.
In other action, Frenchwoman Mathilde Johansson defeated qualifier Andrea Gamiz of Venezuala 6-2, 7-5, while qualifier Rachel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands defeated sixth-seeded Lesia Tsurenko of the Ukraine, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.
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