The Associated Press

WIMBLEDON, England - Venus Williams is back in a Grand Slam groove. She's pounding serves, dictating points, not letting opponents into the match.

And now the two-time Wimbledon champion gets a chance to inflict her good form on the player responsible for Williams' surprising exit at the previous major.

Williams picked up a third consecutive lopsided victory, outclassing French Open semifinalist Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-2 Friday to reach the round of 16 at the All England Club for the sixth year in a row.

Williams next faces another Russian, Vera Zvonareva, who beat her in the fourth round at Roland Garros - Williams' earliest Slam loss in two years. Williams couldn't prepare properly for that event because of an abdominal injury.

"If I have a bad day, it's a bad day," the fourth-seeded Williams said, "but I come back stronger."

No. 4 Roger Federer, No. 8 Sjeng Schalken and Australian Open runner-up Rainer Schuettler also won Friday. Schuettler had the most work to do, overcoming Todd Martin 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (1), 6-1, 7-5 in Martin's record-tying 14th five-setter at Wimbledon.

Ivo Karlovic - the 6-foot-10 qualifier who stunned defending champion Lleyton Hewitt - bowed out with a 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) loss to 6-5 Max Mirnyi despite 26 aces.

Women's matches went to form, too, with one exception: No. 7 Chanda Rubin was beaten 7-6 (6), 6-3 by Silvia Farina Elia.

No. 2 Kim Clijsters and 1999 champion Lindsay Davenport won in straight sets. So did No. 16 Zvonareva, who can expect a tougher time against Williams.

"I would take any bet on Venus when she plays that girl again," said Williams' father, Richard.

Williams has lost a total of 12 games and is consistently serving at 110 mph. In her last two matches, each opponent managed to win three points in a return game just once.

About 3 1/2 hours after beating Petrova, Williams went out with sister Serena and finished a 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-3 victory over Corina Morariu and Rennae Stubbs. The first-round doubles match was suspended Thursday at 3-3 in the last set because of darkness.

The sisters are the defending champions in doubles, to go along with Serena's singles title last year, and Venus' in 2000-01.

Venus also won the U.S. Open those years on her way to being ranked No. 1. Then she lost four straight major finals to her sister, followed by the French Open disappointment.

"Oh, it's never fun to be No. 4," she said, "especially if you've been No. 1."

Williams was asked Friday about the young Russians starting to come into their own. Six - including Zvonareva, 18, and Petrova, 21 - reached the third round.

"They're very eager. That's nice to see. It reminds me of when I first came on tour. The world was ahead of me," Williams said. I do realize there are a lot of players here I don't even know," Williams said. "So I have to get familiar with them all, after a while, even learn how to pronounce some of their names. Especially the ones with the consonants together."

Then again, the way Williams is playing, she probably doesn't need on-court help.