Serena Williams convincingly won the battle of the former champions at Wimbledon on Friday, overcoming Amelie Mauresmo 7-6 6-1 in the third round.
Sixth seed Williams, winner here in 2002 and 2003, came through an intense opening set full of high quality tennis before running away with the match.
Mauresmo, who won the title in 2006, did well to recover from a torrid start, coming back from 3-0 down to force a tiebreak. Having trailed 4-1 in that she dug deep again to get to 4-4 but a netted backhand gave Williams the opener.
Williams surged into a 5-0 lead in the second set and although Mauresmo recovered one break of serve there was no way back. It is the first time Mauresmo has failed to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon in her last six visits.
"It was so windy out there I couldn't make my shots," said Williams after taking her career record against Mauresmo to 10-2. "It was definitely intense and I was glad I got through that tiebreak.
"I'm not playing my best but I'm thinking positive and there's so much more I can do. In the second week I will do a lot better."
When the players stepped on Centre Court under an overcast sky fans could have been forgiven for thinking they had suddenly fast-forwarded deep into the second week.
That the two former world number ones were meeting so early in the tournament owed much to a slump in form that has seen Mauresmo, slide down the rankings this year.
Seeded only 29, Mauresmo was initially overpowered by the ferocity of Williams's power game but once she came to her senses she began to display the grasscourt craft that has made her such a favourite here since making her debut 10 years ago.
Cleverly taking the pace off the ball, she stopped the onslaught in its tracks and broke back in the fifth game when her American opponent hit a forehand into the tramlines.
Mauresmo had a break point at 4-4 but Williams served her way out of trouble. As the tension mounted Serena raised the decibel level in the tiebreak.
An ear-splitting shriek accompanied a ferocious drive volley at 1-1 when Mauresmo was forced to take evasive action and she then pumped her fists following a topspin lob that left her French opponent stranded.
Williams snatched at a mid-court forehand to allow Mauresmo back in the tiebreak but at 5-5 she puffed out her cheeks with relief when an angled Mauresmo slice travelled just wide to give her set point.
Mauresmo netted under pressure to fall a set behind and her resistance crumbled. The 28-year-old needed treatment on a nagging thigh injury during the second set but there was no sympathy from Williams who roared on into the second week.
"The thigh was not a problem in the first set even though I was not 100 percent on the movement," Mauresmo told reporters. "In the second set I really started to feel it, from the set point, but I don't want to talk about the second set."
Williams will face fellow American Bethanie Mattek in the last 16 after she surprised last year's runner-up Marion Bartoli.