The American wasted a break point while leading 6-5 in the first set to gift Kuznetsova a tiebreak in which the Russian finally won 7-3.

"It was definitely close. I had chances to win. Just thinking about things that I could have done better." Williams said.

"I made it hard for myself a lot, more than anything. I felt like, I had a chance to do a little bit better, and I didn't." she added.

Kuznetsova, the second-highest ranked player remaining in the women's singles at No. 7, will next play Australia's Samantha Stosur, who beat 19-year-old Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-3.

No. 30 seed Stosur, playing her first-ever Grand Slam singles quarterfinal, held her nerves to put down a late fightback from Cirstea before ending the run of the unseeded dark horse.

Parisian-born Monfils, seeded 11th, traded blows with Federer during a hotly contested first set in which he wasted a set point at 6-5 in the tie-break. It was the Swiss maestro who showed all his years of big point experience, while leading 7-6, to conclude the set with a crisp volley.

The tie was basically ended as a contest after the first set. Although Monfils summoned up all his reserves of courage for a final fling in the third and saved a break point at 4-4, Federer was not to be denied, breaking and holding to love to put an emphatic exclamation mark on a very solid performance.

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