Wimbledon 2016: Serena Williams and Venus Williams reach last eight

Serena Williams won nine games in a row to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova and reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

From 4-5 down in the first set, the defending champion powered to a 7-5 6-0 victory over the 13th seed on Centre Court on Monday.

Williams will meet Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarter-finals after she beat Coco Vandeweghe 6-3 6-3.

Bidding to equal Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles, Williams started strongly against Kuznetsova, breaking early for a 3-1 lead.

But the Russian, who won their hard-court encounter in Miami earlier this year, battled back.

Both players struggled to keep their footing in light rain and at 5-5 play was suspended for the roof to be closed.

Upon resumption it was Williams who dominated, winning every game to race to victory in an hour and 16 minutes. The world No 1 hit 14 winners and made just three unforced errors in a one-sided second set.

Venus Williams reached her first Wimbledon quarter-final since 2010 following a 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 win over 12th seed Carla Suarez Navarro.

The 36-year-old is the oldest Wimbledon women’s quarter-finalist for 22 years and will face Yaroslava Shvedova for a place in the semi-finals.