Serena Williams stood three wins away from hoisting her fourth successive grand slam title by trumping elder sister Venus 6-4 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.

A contest featuring two women who between them have hoisted the Rosewater Dish 10 times should have been a blockbuster but turned out to be yet another awkward anti-climax - as has been the case in their previous 25 meetings.

Serena started off by thundering through the first eight points of the match, bagged the opening set by hurling down three aces, and completed her 15th win over Venus by breaking the 35-year-old to love.

The top-ranked American will meet either former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus or rising Swiss talent Belinda Bencic on Tuesday.

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