Second seed Kim Clijsters [Images] outslugged Italy's [Images] Francesca Schiavone 7-6, 6-4 on Monday to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the fourth straight time.

Schiavone, seeded 15th, tenaciously matched Clijsters in the first set but the Belgian's heavy ground strokes gradually wore her down after a first-set tie-break, which Schiavone led 4-1 before Clijsters fought back to claim it 7-5.

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Clijsters is recovering from hip and back problems that forced her to pull out of the Sydney International, where she had been due to play Schiavone in the quarter-finals.

Clijsters, the U.S. Open champion, dropped serve three times in the match but fought back strongly to win a 103-minute battle. She meets the winner of three-times champion Martina Hingis [Images] and Australian Samantha Stosur.

Mauresmo storms into last 8

Amelie Mauresmo stormed into the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-1 hammering of Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova.

The muscular Frenchwoman served notice that she must be considered a serious contender to win her first Grand Slam title, demolishing Vaidisova in only 52 minutes.

"Physically I'm feeling well," said third seed Mauresmo, who was beaten in the 1999 women's singles final by Martina Hingis.

"I didn't need to push myself a lot today. That's good for the future."

Mauresmo will play Patty Schnyder next after the Swiss seventh seed overwhelmed former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina [Images] 6-2, 6-1.

Myskina, the 2004 Roland Garros champion, produced a sloppy performance, serving below 50 percent and committing 32 unforced errors to give Schnyder victory in 55 minutes.

SEEDS STRONG

The men's draw went according to script on Monday, with Nikolay Davydenko, Nicolas Kiefer and Sebastien Grosjean all winning.

Fifth seed Davydenko recovered from two sets down to beat Dominik Hrbaty 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 and end the Slovakian ironman's incredible run in the tournament.

Davydenko, who had rallied from a set down to beat towering Croatian Ivo Karlovic in the opening round, looked to be on his way out at 2-0 down and after a service break in the third.

But he broke back before taking the third and then raced through the last two sets as Hrbaty started to shows signs of fatigue.

Hrbaty became just the fifth player to play four consecutive five-set matches since tennis turned professional in 1968. The only other player to do it at the Australian Open was Felix Mantilla three years ago.

Davydenko will play either world number one Roger Federer [Images] or in-form German Tommy Haas in Wednesday's quarter-finals.

Grosjean, seeded 25, thrashed fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals for the fourth time.

Grosjean won a surprisingly one-sided match in just over two hours, breaking Mathieu's serve eight times to remain on course to match his semi-final appearance from 2001.

Grosjean's next opponent is Kiefer, the 21st seed, who dismissed Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 7-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The German celebrated his 300th career match victory and his 50th Grand Slam match win by reaching the quarter-finals in Melbourne for the third time after recording fourth round wins in 1998 and 2000.

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