London, July 6

Serena Williams won the latest installment of her rivalry with sister Venus as the world No 1 eased into the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 victory, while Maria Sharapova endured her toughest match of the tournament so far at Wimbledon here on Monday.

Sharapova made it through to the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas. The Russian fourth seed, who won the 2004 title, will face US world No 47 Coco Vandeweghe in Tuesday’s quarter-finals.

Serena, bidding for her sixth Wimbledon title, took just 67 minutes to see off Venus on Centre Court and will play Victoria Azarenka or Belinda Bencic for a place in the semi-finals. The 33-year-old hit 36 winners and 10 aces to secure her 14th win in 26 meetings with her older sister, but it was clear neither sibling enjoyed the experience. “It’s hard to feel excited about (beating) someone you root for all the time no matter what and you love so much and is your best friend in the world,” Serena said. With the awkward family reunion out of the way, Serena can refocus on her bid to rewrite the history books.

Agnieszka Radwanska booked her spot in the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-4 win over former world No 1 Jelena Jankovic. The Polish 13th seed defeated the Serbian 28th seed — who knocked out defending champion Petra Kvitova in the third round — in an hour and 43 minutes. Radwanska, the 2012 Wimbledon runner-up, faces Madison Keys of the United States, the 21st seed, in Tuesday’s quarter-finals.

Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky reached her first quarter-final with a 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over Romania’s Monica Niculescu. The 15th seed, who made the French Open semi-finals last month, takes on either Caroline Wozniacki or Garbine Muguruza for a place in the semi-finals.

In men’s section, Richard Gasquet reached the quarter-finals for the second time while Vasek Pospisil became only the third Canadian man to make the last-eight. French 21st seed Gasquet defeated Nick Kyrgios 7-5, 6-1, 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (8/6) to avenge a second round loss to the temperamental Australian in 2014. The 29-year-old, a semi-finalist in 2007, will face either third seed Stan Wawrinka or Belgium’s David Goffin for a place in the last-four after winning a last-16 clash at the majors for just the third time in 19 attempts.

For Kyrgios, who has delighted and enraged Wimbledon in equal measure, it was another topsy-turvy encounter. At one stage, he ‘tanked’ a couple of points, berated the umpire before seeking a consoling hug from a ballboy as his attempt to repeat his run to last year’s quarter-finals failed. The 20-year-old had a set point in the fourth set before his 10th double fault of the match handed victory to the Frenchman.

Unseeded Pospisil became only the third Canadian man to reach the quarter-finals with a 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win over Serbian 22nd seed Viktor Troicki. The world No 56 won his third five-set match in four rounds and goes on to face either 2013 champion Andy Murray or Croatia’s big-serving Ivo Karlovic for a place in the semi-finals. Pospisil follows Robert Powell and Milos Raonic as the only Canadian men to have reached the last-eight.