Davenport storms into last eight

Second seed Lindsay Davenport wiped out Russian Lioudmila Skavronskaia 6-1, 6-1 to gain the quarter-finals of the Bank of the West Classic on Thursday.

Two-time Stanford champion Davenport overwhelmed the hard-hitting yet erratic Skavronskaia from all over the court, frequently wrong-footing her in short and powerful rallies.

The Russian had won two Challenger-level events coming into the tournament and qualified and won her first round match at Stanford, but was no match for the three-times Grand Slam champion.

"It's tough not to know what to expect, but in 80 to 90 percent of my matches, I'm just focusing on my own game," Davenport said.

"I played at high enough standard to be successful and she made a few errors. I moved her around well and was in control of most of the points."

Davenport is just coming off a right knee injury and is trying to play it safe for an assault on the U.S. Open. Last year, a foot injury kept the Californian out of Stanford and plagued her during her favourite hard court swing.

"This is just the beginning of a long summer and a nice way to start," said Davenport. "I love this tournament and was disappointed when I couldn't come last year. Fortunately, this time I feel good."

Davenport will play qualifier Mashona Washington in the quarter-finals.

Third seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland also had an easy time knocking off Australia's Nicole Pratt 6-3, 6-2 and will face American veteran and sixth seed Amy Frazier, who knocked out France's Marion Bartoli 6-3, 7-6.

In the other quarter-finals, Italy's Francesca Schiavone, a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 winner against Croatian Jelena Kostanic, will face Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela and top seed Venus Williams meets fifth-seeded Israeli Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi.