MELBOURNE, Australia -- Note to Serena Williams' feet: Keep moving like that, and you'll get a nice gift.
The seven-time Grand Slam winner's latest match on the comeback trail from injury included a deft pirouette to reach a half-volley and slam a winner, and lots of running during several long baseline rallies.
The 6-3, 6-2 win against 11th-seeded Jelena Jankovic puts Williams into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the fourth time -- at a time when many people thought she would still be struggling to get her game to click.
Asked how it felt to have her body respond to what her brain asked it to do, she replied: "Awesome. I had a long talk with my body, and we agreed that if you get through these tournaments I'll give them surprises."
Like what?
"Dresses or something, shoes."
Williams, the 2005 Australian Open winner, returned to defend her title last year but lost in the third round. She took six months off with a nagging left knee problem, returning for the U.S. Open, where she lost in the fourth round.
Andy's fashion tips
Jim Courier and Andy Roddick chatted about fashion before a packed center court crowd at the Australian Open on Sunday.
Courier, acting as on-court interviewer in the men's featured matches, was momentarily lost for words after asking Roddick a few questions about his 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 third-round win against Croatia's Mario Ancic.
"OK, last question for you is, uh ... what do you want to talk about?" said Courier, who won two French and two Australian Open titles and had a 58-week run as world No. 1 in the early 1990s.
Roddick, riding high after new coach and another former American champion Jimmy Connors made it to Australia to watch his past two hard-fought matches to reach the fourth round, didn't skip a beat.
"I don't know, you're doing such a good job in the booth, your hair looks nice," Roddick told Courier. "You've come a long way since the striped shirt and the shorts that were way too short. I'm glad that someone's finally dressing you."
"Thanks for the fashion tips," replied Courier, dressed in pinstriped pants and a deep blue shirt. "Wait 'til you retire you can dress this well too."
Israeli heroine
Shahar Peer became just the second Israeli to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam on Sunday with a career-best win over 3rd-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Australia Open.
The 19-year-old Peer, seeded 16th, slammed 22 winners and served just one double fault to defeat Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2 and set up her first appearance in the finals of a Grand Slam, against Serena Williams.
"I'm just going to go out there give everything I have," said Peer, who cracked the top 20 last year for the first time and is now ranked 17th. "I have nothing to lose."
Peer is the first Israeli to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal since Amos Mansdorf reached at the 1992 Australian Open, where he lost to eventual champion Jim Courier.
Hard road
Ashley Harkleroad was a set ahead and 4-0 in the second when Daniela Hantuchova threw caution to the wind.
"She just started slapping it," said Harkleroad, after eventually losing to the 15th-seeded Slovakian 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 3-6. "She was just reeling off shots one after the other, like she didn't really care, and they were all going in."
American Harkleroad, unseeded here but who had her second top 20 finish in 2006, said she got spooked up when Hantuchova began landing winners from all over the court -- and blew a chance for her first fourth-round appearance in a Grand Slam.
"I got a little bit tight, and that's it," she said. "I should have won that match, period."
Hantuchova, who beat defending champion Serena Williams in the third round of the Australian Open last year, said she recovered by focusing on each point.
"I was just waiting for my game to come, and it did," she said.
Hantuchova next faces No. 4 Kim Clijsters.
Counting the hours
Tommy Haas heads into his fourth-round match at the Australian Open having spent some four fewer hours on court than rival David Nalbandian.
But he lost a scheduled rest day when he spent Saturday in the locker room waiting for the rain to stop.
At tennis' top level, every possible factor is studied looking for an advantage that could be the difference between winning and losing -- weather conditions, an injury that can be exploited, weariness.
But math and science can only get you so far, said 12th-seeded Haas, who beat German countryman Florian Mayer 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday and will play Nalbandian on Monday.
"You can do a lot of calculations, wonder how many hours this guy has been on the court or off the court," he said. "You can also calculate I'm not going to get a day of rest, I'm going to play again tomorrow. I was hanging around all day yesterday, nine hours watching matches. That's also tiring."
Haas has had three straight-sets wins and played 94 games to reach the Australian Open's fourth round for the second consecutive year. Argentinian Nalbandian, seeded eighth, played 121 games and saved match points in two five-set matches, including one in grueling 40 C (104 F) heat on the second day.
Stogie sin
Marat Safin's crack about the Australian Open's tournament referee being a cigar-smoking bureaucrat has cost him $2,000.
Safin was cited for verbal abuse after an on-court outburst during his losing third-round match Friday against Andy Roddick, when he complained about being told to play despite small puddles of water from a rain shower outside the double lines.
Tournament referee Wayne McKewen examined the court and insisted play resume, prompting Safin, who won here in 2005, to gripe to chair umpire Pascal Maria: "The guy comes in, never in his life plays tennis, and tells me it's OK. I could be slipping. The guy is sitting there, smoking a cigar..." Safin finished the sentence by mouthing an expletive.
Australian Lleyton Hewitt joined the players whose on-court discretions have cost them money at the tournament, after also being fined $2,000 for an audible obscenity in his second-round match against Canada's Frank Dancevic. Hewitt lost his third-round match to Fernando Gonzalez.
American Vince Spadea still tops the list of players fined at this Australian Open, with $4,000 in fines for verbal abuse and making audible obscenities.
