LONDON, June 28: Venus Williams cranked up the power on Saturday to thunder into the fourth round of Wimbledon, beating Spanish qualifier Maria Martinez Sanchez 6-1 7-5.

The American, pursuing a fifth title at the All England Club, appeared to be in a hurry to join sister Serena in the last 16 and went about her task with ruthless efficiency.

Left hander Martinez Sanchez had taken a set off Venus in their only previous meeting but during the first 22 minutes of their contest on Saturday it seemed she might be heading for a dreaded whitewash.

Venus raced into a 5-0 lead and though Martinez Sanchez briefly interrupted the run to win her first game, the 28-year-old American sealed the set with a 188 kph serve. The Spaniard provided stiffer resistance in the second before Venus ended the match with her fastest delivery of the day, a 204 kph thunderbolt.

World number one Ana Ivanovic’s luck finally ran out at Wimbledon on Friday when she was toppled 6-1 6-4 in the third round by China’s Zheng Jie.

Forty-eight hours after the Serb saved two match points against Nathalie Dechy, the second with the help of a netcord, she suffered an astonishing meltdown on Court One.

The French Open champion struggled to keep the ball in play as she either sprayed errors off the court or scooped shots into the net with alarming regularity.

The 133rd-ranked Zheng could hardly believe her eyes when Ivanovic shovelled a service return into the net to gift her the first set in 30 minutes. It was all over 42 minutes later when Ivanovic miscued a shot high into the sky on match point.

“It’s such a surprise for me,” the soft-spoken Zheng said just moments after stepping off court.

In a tournament already rocked by defeats of former champion Maria Sharapova, men’s third seed Novak Djokovic and twice runner-up Andy Roddick, Ivanovic became the latest big name to catch an early flight out of London.

Results:

Men’s singles results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Rainer Schuettler (Germany) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 6-2 6-3 6-4; 22-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt 11-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 6-4 6-4 6-0.

Women’s singles results (prefix number denotes seeding):

2-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) bt 31-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 2-6 6-4 6-2; Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) bt Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) 4-6 6-4 6-4; 7-Venus Williams (US) bt Maria Martinez Sanchez (Spain) 6-1 7-5; 5-Elena Dementieva (Russia) bt Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 7-6(2) 7-5; Alisa Kleybanova (Russia) bt Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-4 6-4; Zheng Jie (China) bt 1-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 6-1 6-4; 6-Serena Williams (U.S) bt 29-Ameile Mauresmo (France) 7-6(5) 6-1; Bethanie Mattek (US) bt 11-Marion Bartoli (France) 6-4 6-1; 15-Agnes Szavay (Hungary) bt Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) 7-6(5) 2-6 6-2.—Agencies