The slightly-built Maleeva visibly wilted under a bombardment from the younger Williams sister, who wrapped up the match in just 49 minutes.

Williams started off as she meant to go on by breaking Maleeva's service in the first game of the match.

The Bulgarian's only success was to win a service game to love in the seventh game of the first set.

One 114mph untouchable ace served in the first set summed up the one-sided nature of the match.

And she will now meet Jennifer Capriati in the quarter-finals. keen to erase the memory of her defeat when the pair met in Paris.

"This time I just need to make sure I'm out there performing and I'm not making all those errors, playing the way Serena Williams knows how to play."

Venus Williams, the defending champion joined her sister in the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-0 victory over Nadia Petrova.

The young Russian simply had no answer to the power of Williams on Court Two.

Venus now meets the experienced Nathalie Tauziat, who ended the run of Thailand's Tamnarine Tanasugarn with a 6-3 6-2 victory.

And Williams will not take the challenge of the Frenchwoman lightly.

"Every person who comes on the court is a competitor who is trying to beat me, so I'll have to stay calm, not ush things and stick to my guns," said Venus.

Seventh seed Kim Clijsters also progressed to the last eight.

Davenport overcame Jelena Dokic 7-5 6-4 on Centre Court as her extra power told.

But she is expecting another tough match against the Belgian number seven seed.

"She's another young player who hits the ball hard and is a good athlete," said Davenport. "But my game plan doesn't change much from match to match."

The 1994 champion Conchita Martinez beat Russia's Lina Krasnoroutskya 6-3 6-4 to set up a last right match with Belgium's Justine Henin.

And Martinez is enjoying being back at Wimbledon.

"I'm playing with a lot of confidence and feeling great on grass," said the Spaniard.

Henin, the number eight seed, fought back from losing the first set to beat Germany's Anke Huber 4-6 6-2 6-2.