Melbourne: The only wild things that Serena Williams had to deal with Saturday were a few bad shots.
Just like the distraction of a streaker the last time she played, they were easy to overcome.
Serena, still chuckling about the man who dashed on court during her doubles match Friday with sister Venus, got serious to overcome a second-set lapse and beat overmatched Peng Shuai 6-1, 6-4 to reach the Australian Open fourth round and keep alive her pursuit of a 10th Grand Slam title.
The night schedule had top-ranked Rafael Nadal and No. 4 Andy Murray in action, while Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva tried to extend her women's winning streak to 13 matches.
The mood seemed almost subdued as play got under way in Rod Laver Arena earlier in the day, as if the tournament had a hangover a day after the streaker and a violent clash between Serbian and Bosnian fans kept security guards busy.
Serena, who graded herself a "D-minus" after her last match, gave herself a better mark against Peng, who has never gotten past the third round in 16 Grand Slams.
Hitting two-handed from both sides, 41st-ranked Peng is mostly a retriever, so while her defense was annoying to Serena, she had only 12 winners to 29 for the American. And when she did get in trouble, Serena was usually able to extricate herself with her powerful serve. She finished with 10 aces.
But after winning the last six games of the first set without needing to put in too much effort, Serena became increasingly frustrated as she was broken twice early in the second before pulling herself together.
"I started making more errors and then I lost my serve a couple times," she said. "Then I think I put too much pressure on myself. Then, next thing I know, I was down."
Luckily for Serena, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
"I was like, 'You know, Serena, sometimes you just play better when you're down.' I started playing better."
Serena said that for some reason, she seems to be able to focus better in doubles than in singles. Her concentration was severely challenged when the streaker danced his way on court a day earlier.
"I noticed he didn't have underwear on. I thought, 'OK, I must be seeing things.' Then I just thought, my eyes, my innocent eyes,'" she said, smiling.
With security tightened at Melbourne Park, there was no repeat of any streaking or the violence.
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Ethnic violence flared on Friday after defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Bosnian-born American Amer Delic. After a chair-flinging skirmish lasting a couple of minutes, a woman was injured, three men charged with riotous behavior and 30 people ejected by police.
Police on Saturday said they were reviewing video to determine if any more charges were warranted.
Serena next faces No. 13 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who ousted 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 6-2.
Carla Suarez Navarro, who had an upset win over reigning Wimbledon champion Venus Serena in the second round, beat fellow Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
The 19-year-old Suarez Navarro, ranked 46th, will next play No. 21 Anabel Medina Garrigues — who ousted 12th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy — in an all-Spanish fourth-round match.
The Bondarenko sisters of Ukraine were ousted within hours of each other, missing out on a fourth-round meeting.
Kateryna lost to No. 22 Zheng Jie of China and older sister Alona fell to No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion.
No. 18 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia beat Virginie Razzano of France.
No. 14 Fernando Verdasco of Spain beat No. 22 Radek Stepanek to advance along with three Frenchman Saturday.
Among them was fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the runner-up here last year, who beat Irsraeli Dudi Sela and next meets No. 9 James Blake, who became the second American to reach the final 16, joining Andy Roddick.
Gael Monfils, a French Open semi-finalist last year, beat No. 17 Nicolas Almagro of Spain and will face No. 6 Gilles Simon, who ousted No. 19 Mario Ancic of Croatia.
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