By Chris Oddo | Thursday May 12, 2016

It wasn’t a great first set for Serena Williams on Thursday in Rome, but like she’s done countless times in the past the world No. 1 overcame a shaky beginning and marched to a decisive 7-6(7), 6-1 victory over fellow American Christina McHale in Rome.

More: Federer Knocked off by Thiem in Straight Sets

The victory sets up an enticing quarterfinal with 9th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, the woman who vanquished Williams in the Miami round of 16 en route to the final.

Williams was slow out of the gate and paid for it against McHale, who converted her eighth break point of the set to take a 3-2 lead in the opener. But the 24-year-old could not extend her lead and ended up giving the break back when serving for the set in the ninth game.

Undeterred, McHale saved two set points and earned a set point of her own in the ensuing tiebreaker, but Williams rallied to snag the first set on her third chance and never looked back from there.

In the second set Williams dropped only one first-serve point and saved both break points she faced to cruise to the finish line. She broke three times on seven opportunities and closed affairs in one hour and 41 minutes to notch her 40th career win at Rome.

The three-time Rome champion now has won 72 of her last 76 matches on clay.

Kuznetsova had to battle past the rising Australian Daria Gavrilova earlier on Thursday, notching a hard-fought 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory to reach the quarterfinals at Rome for the first time since 2009.

Kuznetsova owns a 3-8 lifetime record against Williams, and has gone 1-2 vs. the 21-time major champion on clay.

Also advancing to the quarterfinals in Rome on Thursday was third-seeded Garbine Muguruza. The Spaniard reached her third quarterfinal of 2016 with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Jelena Ostapenko. Muguruza will face 11th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky in the quarterfinals. The Swiss edged Carla Suarez Navarro in three sets.

Irina-Camelia Begu also advanced, defeating Russia’s Daria Kasatkina in straight sets.