Serena Williams thumps Elina Svitolina to coast into last eight

It is the tenth time in her golden 18-year career that the 21-times Grand Slam winner has reached the last eight at Roland Garros.

After two days of rain at the Paris venue and only a few hours of play on Tuesday, Williams did not hang about in making up for lost time by bludgeoing the world number 20 from the Ukraine who was simply overpowered by the consistency of the American's hitting from deep.

"I'm ready for this weather, but you have to be patient," said a happy Williams.

Williams will face Yulia Putintseva after the Kazakhstan player enjoyed a 7-5 7-5 win over Spain's 12th seed Carla Suarez Navarro.

Empty green seats outnumbered raincoat-clad fans by around five to one on the Parisian showcourt, and the heavy, slow balls meant there was little artistry to entice greater numbers.

Although spluttering from time to time -- Williams fired the odd serve alarmingly long; netted the occasional simple groundstroke -- the top seed always did enough to neuter her scurrying opponent.

But those willing to brave the chilly, sodden conditions were treated to a display of utter dominance.

She spluttered from time to time, but always did enough to neuter her scurrying opponent, and will play Yulia Putintseva for a spot in the semis.

The bare statistics tell their own story. Both players made a similar number of unforced errors -- this was never a display of perfection or sublime shot-making -- but Svitolina made far more forced errors, highlighting the pressure throughout.

Serena's serves were consistently faster, both first and second. She won the lions' share of break points on offer, and almost all the points when venturing to the net.

In total, Williams won almost twice as many points as her opponent, 64 to Svitolina's 35.

Was she twice as good? She was -- and the rest.

"I feel it was a better match for me. She's a really good player. She gets a lot of balls back. So it was really good for me to play that."

As it happened, Svitolina didn't get nearly enough balls back, and Williams finished her off in a smidgeon over an hour.

As big sister Venus headed for the exit, having lost to Timea Bacsinszky, Serena returned to the changing room, another challenger looming, another practice session ahead, another round to play.

Her tired smile as she exited the court perhaps suggesting even she may one day tire of shooting fish in a barrel.

While that may be the case after almost 20 years at the cutting edge of women's tennis, neutrals should hope that time is a little way off. Those tiring of Williams' dominance might well consider the bleak landscape without her star quality.

Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) beat 12-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 7-5 7-5

8-Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) beat 9-Venus Williams (U.S.) 6-2 6-4

Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) beat 15-Madison Keys (U.S.) 7-6(4) 6-3

1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat 18-Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 6-1 6-1