Williams, who won the title here in 2003, 2005 and 2007, started play on Rod Laver Arena on day six with a 6-1, 6-4 win over No 41-ranked Peng Shuai of China. [break]
The previous day she had to contend with a streaker on court when she was combining with sister Venus Williams for a doubles win.And with security tightened at Melbourne Park, there was no repeat of any streaking or the violence that marred the tournament Friday when violence erupted between Serbian and Bosnian fans.
She chuckled about the court-invading streaker when asked on Saturday.
"Well, first I saw him jump over and then I noticed he didn´t have underwear on," she said. "I thought, ´OK, I must be seeing things.´
"He ran out on the court ... he was pretty close to me and V. I was like, ´I hope he doesn´t come, he´s too close. Then I just thought, my eyes, my innocent eyes!"
What happened later was no laughing matter.
Then ethnic violence flared after defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Bosnian-born American Amer Delic. After a chair-flinging skirmish lasting a couple of minutes, a woman was injured, three men charged with riotous behavior and 30 people ejected by police.
Police on Saturday said they were reviewing video of the clash to determine if any more charges were warranted.
Serena Williams next faces No 13 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who ousted 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 6-2.
The 19-year-old Azarenka won her first career title at Brisbane earlier this month and said she was feeling confident of improving on her third-round loss to Williams here last year.
"It´s second year in a row but it´s fourth round," she said. "We´ll see how it goes. I´m sure it´ll be a great match."
Carla Suarez Navarro, who had an upset win over reigning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in the second round, beat fellow Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1, 6-4.
The 19-year-old Suarez Navarro, ranked 46th, will next play No 21 Anabel Medina Garrigues — who ousted 12th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-4, 6-1 — in an all-Spanish fourth-round match.
The Bondarenko sisters of Ukraine were ousted within hours of each other, missing out on a fourth-round meeting.
Kateryna lost 6-2, 6-2 to No. 22 Zheng Jie of China and older sister Alona went down 7-6 (7), 6-4 to No 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, who won despite making 68 unforced errors.
No 18 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia beat Virginie Razzano of France 7-5, 7-5.
James Blake moved into the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over 18th-seeded Igor Andreev.
The ninth-seeded Blake next plays No 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who was among the three Frenchmen advancing. Tsonga, the runner-up here last year, beat Israeli Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.
Gael Monfils, a French Open semifinalist last year, had a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win over No 17 Nicolas Almagro of Spain and will fellow Frenchman No 6 Gilles Simon in the next round. Simon beat No 19 Mario Ancic of Croatia, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-2.
No 14 Fernando Verdasco of Spain beat No 22 Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-0, 6-0.
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