Serena storms into semis

The top seed is in superb form

Serena Williams produced the performance of the tournament so far to beat Daniela Hantuchova and reach the US Open semi-finals.

Picture gallery: Women's round-up

The top seed overwhelmed her Slovakian opponent to win 6-2 6-2 in 55 minutes.

Williams has been near flawless in her effort to reclaim the title she first won in 1999 dropping just 14 games on route to the semi-finals.

And afterwards she curiously likened her tennis form and ability to that of a cat.

"Today I was running fast and jumping high, like a cat. Maybe on Thursday I will be a Pink Panther."

Hantuchova had no answer to Williams' power

Williams will take on Lindsay Davenport in the last four after the fourth seed earlier fought back to beat Russian Elena Bovina 3-6 6-0 6-2.

The bottom half of the draw has been delayed by rain, and saw Monica Seles set up a quarter-final with Venus Williams.

Seles had a surprisingly straightforward 6-4 6-2 win over Martina Hingis, while Williams struggled to a 6-2 4-6 7-5 win over Chanda Rubin.

Former world number one Hingis struggled from the early stages against Seles as she continued her comeback from injury.

In my next match, I'm going to go out and do what I'm supposed to do

Venus Williams

"She returned really well, I didn't return the greatest," said Hingis.

"I didn't really have anything to hold onto against her."

After several early breaks, Seles made the decisive move in the first set at 4-4 as Hingis' familiar weakness on serve resurfaced.

Gamewatch: Seles v Hingis

It was a similar story in the second set as Seles attacked on the return at every opportunity, and she closed out the match at the fifth opportunity to make the last eight.

"I had some tough losses against Martina this year and was just a little bit luckier," said Seles.

It was hard work for the number two seed

Williams struggled considerably to overcome fellow American Rubin in the day's first match.

The second seed made a succession of wild errors throughout the match on both the forehand and backhand, and was in danger until the final game.

"It wasn't my best day," said Williams. "In my next match, I'm going to go out and do what I'm supposed to do."

It had looked like being a routine victory when Williams swept through the opening set.

Rubin was in determined mood, however, and withstood a late comeback from Williams to secure the second.

And when the 14th seed recovered from a break down to 4-4 in the final set, an upset looked on the cards.

But after saving two break points at 5-5, Williams wrapped up the match in the next game with a couple of heavy forehands to avoid a final set tie-break.