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World number one Dinara Safina needed all her battling qualities to beat former champion Amelie Mauresmo 4-6 6-3 6-4 under the closed Centre Court roof.

Safina, the world's top ranked player who still awaits a Grand Slam title, found it difficult to impose her all-guns blazing baseline game on the Frenchwoman but finally prevailed after two hours and nine minutes.

Mauresmo, seeded 17, trailed 3-0 in the opener before finding her form and taking it with two breaks of serve.

Safina hit back to level the match and though Mauresmo - who became the first player to hit a ball under the new roof when drizzle halted play - led 2-0 in the decider, the Russian kept her focus to hold serve for the match, clinching it when Mauresmo netted a forehand.

She will next play unseeded German Sabine Lisicki, who added Danish ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki to her list of Wimbledon scalps this year with a 6-4 6-4 victory.

Lisicki, the world number 41 who accounted for French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round, played with more consistency and poise to come through in an hour and 19 minutes on Court Four.

A single break of serve was sufficient in each set for the 19-year-old, who sealed victory when Wozniacki ballooned a forehand long.

Defending champion Venus Williams booked her place in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon after Serbian 13th seed Ana Ivanovic retired injured in their fourth-round clash.

Venus, chasing her third straight title and sixth overall, was making a mockery of Ivanovic's former world number one ranking by storming to the first set 6-1 when the Serb called for the trainer in the opening game of the second.

Former French Open champion Ivanovic received treatment to her hip and then held her serve to go 1-0 up in the second before tearfully informing the umpire she could not carry on.

Williams will play 11th seed Agnieszka Radwanska for a place in the semi-finals, after the Pole ended the run of 17-year-old American qualifier Melanie Oudin 6-4 7-5.

Olympic champion Elena Dementieva became the first player to book a place in the last eight when she cruised past fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 6-1 6-3.

The fourth seed reached the last eight for the second year in a row at the All England Club after displaying superior shot range and court coverage to world number 37 Vesnina, whom she has now beaten in all three of their career meetings.

Dementieva cruised through the first in 29 minutes without Vesnina getting close to a break point, and duly polished off the second set when Vesnina sent a backhand volley long after an hour and 10 minutes.

She will play Francesca Schiavone next, after the Italian beat French 26th seed Virginie Razzano 6-2 7-6(1).

Second seed Serena Williams wasted little time in joining sister Venus in the quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-1 demolition of unseeded Slovak Daniela Hantuchova.

Serena, a two-time champion here and the reigning Australian Open champion, never looked in any danger as her superior power in all departments gave Hantuchova minimal options.

She raced to the opening set in just 30 minutes before Hatuchova's game folded completely in the second and she clinched victory after just 56 minutes when the Slovak sent a forehand on the run wide.

She will play Victoria Azarenka for a place in the semi-final, after the eighth seed battled her way into through with a hard-fought 7-6(5) 2-6 6-3 victory over Russia's Nadia Petrova .

The eighth seed, the first woman from Belarus to reach the last eight at Wimbledon since Natasha Zvereva in 1998, will have to raise her game to stand a chance against Serena in the last eight.

An abysmal first set was awash with unforced errors, both players each losing their serve three times apiece before Azarenka, yowling with effort on every point, squeaked home 7-5 in a tight tiebreak.

Petrova, treated at the end of the set with ice packs to counteract the heat, came back with all guns blazing to level the match but could not maintain the pressure in the decider and Azarenka wrapped it up after two hours and 25 minutes.

Reuters