ESPN 2007 US Open

NEW YORK -- Top-seeded Justine Henin quickly chased another qualifier, taking only 50 minutes Friday to breeze into a fourth-round matchup with No. 15 Dinara Safina.

U.S. Open scores

Need results from the U.S. Open? Updates from every court and every match from USOpen.org: Scores
• Complete results

Henin won the first 10 games, approached the net more often than usual and chased Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-0, 6-2.

Third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia survived a third-round scare, dropping the first set before rallying back for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over French teen Alize Cornet. French Open runner-up Ana Ivanovic earned another shot at Venus Williams, who beat her in the Wimbledon semifinals en route to the title, with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Russian Vera Dushevina. Two-time U.S. Open champion Williams was never really challenged in a 6-1, 6-2 victory over No. 21 Alona Bondarenko.

Williams' younger sister, Serena, got to the fourth round by beating No. 27 Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 7-6 (4). Serena Williams was bothered by the chair umpire's insistence that she put away a little notebook with handwritten reminders.

"I was like, 'Well, it's not like I'm Harry Potter, and my dad can magically give me notes to read,'" she said. "It's something that I write myself. Just little things."

Her opponent will be Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli, who beat Lucie Safarova 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Makarova had beaten No. 28 seed Ai Sugiyama in the previous round but Henin was in a different class, allowing the Russian just eight points in the first set.

The world No. 156 held serve in the fourth game of the second set and broke Henin in the seventh but the Belgian broke straight back to claim victory.

Henin beat her third straight opponent from outside the top 100. Not that she worried about getting a vigorous warmup.

"A big part of my success is that I've always been very focused on myself in the last few years," Henin said. "Don't look too much on the other side of the net."

Next up for Henin is Safina, the Russian who chased American Ahsha Rolle 6-4, 6-3. The sister of former Open champ Marat Safin never permitted a break chance.

Al Bello/Getty ImagesAna Ivanovic will next face Venus Williams, who beat her in the Wimbledon semis.

"Obviously, she has more experience than me," Rolle said. "I feel like I had a couple of bad shot selections that kind of cost me big games."

Serena Williams was pushed hard for the third consecutive match. Bidding for her ninth Grand Slam title, Williams turned in another patchy performance and needed 1 hour, 59 minutes to advance.

Zvonareva had not played since April because of a left wrist injury but matched Williams from the baseline only for the American to snatch the opening set by the odd break.

The Russian, a quarterfinalist in 2003, led by a break early in the second but Williams fought back and won the second-set tiebreak 7-4 to reach the last 16.

"I was upset after the match. I didn't feel that I played the greatest at all," a somber Williams said. "I actually felt like I didn't play well at all.

"But that's said and done. I'm moving on," she said.

Australian Open champion Williams, playing her first competitive matches since the quarterfinals at Wimbledon because of a thumb injury, looked sluggish and showed little exuberance on the court.

"I'm happy I was able to come through," said Williams. "You just got to fight, hope to win. And that's what I did."

Williams was asked if she felt her game coming together.

"I don't think I've been practicing the greatest, so ... hopefully I'm waiting for it to come together," Williams said without much conviction.

Williams said she needed to improve to beat 10th seed Bartoli, who lost to her sister in the Wimbledon final.

"I saw her play at Wimbledon. It's going to be a good match. She's doing really well. I'll have to be ready," she said.

Williams, seeded 12th, notched her third straight one-sided victory as she takes aim at following her Wimbledon triumph with a third U.S. Open crown.

"I just want to take that experience from Wimbledon and bring it here," the 27-year-old Williams said in a courtside interview. "I've done it a couple of times here before and I want to do it again."

Williams dispatched 21st seed Bondarenko with 30 winners, despite getting only 51 percent of her first serves in.

"I definitely would like to have a higher first-serve percentage, but it's not something I'm worried about," she said. "I still feel like I can get my serve in. My second serve nowadays has a lot of kick. So it was a good day."

Williams, who won the Open in 2000 and 2001, showed a lot of fire with her service returns.

"It's just coming," said Williams, oozing confidence. "I know I'm going to go for it. It's nice that it comes naturally."

In contrast to Serena, another two-time U.S. Open winner who has struggled through her first three matches this year, Venus is playing loose and free.

"I just feel like I win all the important points and that really makes a big difference in how my opponent feels playing against me and how I feel about the match, too," Venus Williams said.

She said she was not worried about Serena, who she described as "an unbelievable competitor."

"When push comes to shove, she shoves," Venus said with a smile.

Williams, who has a 3-0 career record against the 19-year-old Ivanovic, beat the Serb 6-2, 6-4 in the Wimbledon semis.

Ivanovic, who reached the French Open final earlier this year, reached the last 16 after losing just 10 games.

Dushevina had beaten 25th seed Mara Santangelo of Italy in the first round but Ivanovic was too good, romping through the first set.

The Russian battled hard in the second but Ivanovic, bidding to become the first Serb to win a Grand Slam singles title, was untroubled, winning the match in 66 minutes.

Jankovic said she underestimated the 17-year-old Cornet and was fortunate to advance.

"I came to the court like I was going to a picnic," the 22-year-old Serbian said about her first encounter with Cornet. "I was so careless. I underestimated my opponent because I thought she was a junior.

"I thought I will have an easy job. That was a big mistake for me," she said.

Cornet, ranked 96th, shocked Jankovic with 13 winners in the opening set and broke the Serbian three times.

Jankovic, however, weathered the storm.

After finding her rhythm, Jankovic attacked Cornet on her serve, breaking the Frenchwoman three times in the second set and four times in the third.

Jankovic, a semifinalist here last year who also reached the last four this year at the French Open, was full of praise for Cornet.

"She was playing unbelievably today," Jankovic said. "I knew that the girl will let down at some point because she cannot play the whole match without making any mistakes and running from side to side, making some unbelievable shots.

"She gave me a really hard time and I was really surprised how well she played. Very lucky to get through, for sure. She gave me a scare," she said.

Jankovic will next play 19th seed Sybille Bammer of Austria, a 6-1, 6-2 winner over 14th-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia.

"The next round will be a different story," said Jankovic. "I know the girl I'm playing against. I know what I'm supposed to do."

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.