Venus Williams of the United States plays a forehand in her fourth-round match against Italy's Francesca Schiavone during Day 8 of the 2010 Australian Open. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Venus Williams advanced to the Australian Open quarter-finals for the seventh time to set up a meeting with Li Na, who helped make more Chinese history.

The sixth-seeded Williams beat Francesca Schiavone 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 on Monday, recovering after dropping a set to the Italian for the first time since 2003.

Li upset No. 4 seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3 in a 98-minute match featuring 12 service breaks. Li held when it counted, saving three break-point chances against the U.S. Open finalist in an 11-minute opening game. She also served it out on her second match point.

Li's progress means there are two Chinese players in the quarter-finals of the same major for the first time. Zheng Jie, the 2008 Wimbledon semifinalist, is into the quarters in the other half of the draw.

Li already has reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and went out at that stage in the last U.S. Open. She beat Williams in the quarter-finals at the Beijing Olympics in their only previous meeting, but she wasn't drawing too much from that result Down Under.

"It was good experience for me, for my tennis, also," Li said. "But I just want to forget, because I will play her again. So I didn't want always think about the last match. I want to look forward."

Williams has won seven singles majors and reached the final of the Australian Open in '03, losing to her younger sister Serena, in her best run at Melbourne Park.

The Williams sisters are on track to meet in the semifinals, with top-ranked and defending champion Serena playing Australia's Sam Stosur in a fourth-round match later Monday on Rod Laver Arena.

In men's fourth-round matches, 2008 champion Novak Djokovic beat Poland's Lukasz Kubot 6-1, 6-2, 7-5. Kubot, who finished last season at No. 101, got a walkover into the second week when No. 20 Mikhail Youzhny withdrew from their third-round match with an injured wrist.

Roddick advances

Four days after an angry outburst over the rules relating to replays and line calls, Andy Roddick got a crucial call in his favour in his fourth-round win over Fernando Gonzalez on Sunday.

Roddick held off the 2007 Australian Open finalist 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the quarters for the sixth time in eight years. He'll meet No. 14 Marin Cilic of Croatia, who ousted U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in five sets.

Roddick bucked the trend on a day of upsets that also resulted in fourth-round exits for two of the top women: No. 2 Dinara Safina, last year's runner-up, and No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova, the reigning French Open champion.

"I got a little lucky, but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," he said.

Roddick said the knee problem that sidelined him at the end of last season was bothering him a bit, but it didn't affect the game.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal and No. 5 Andy Murray held off two of the tallest men and biggest servers in tennis to set up a quarter-final match up.

Nadal, who beat Roger Federer in the 2009 final, had a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, and Murray overcame 6-foot-9 American John Isner 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2.

No. 1 Federer and No. 3 Djokovic were playing fourth-round matches Monday.

Upsets in women's draw

Safina had to retire because of the recurrence of a back injury when she was serving at 5-4 down and 30-40 against Maria Kirilenko, who had upset 2008 champion Maria Sharapova in the first round.

Kirilenko next plays 2008 Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng Jie, who became the first Chinese player to reach the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over Alona Bondarenko.

Kuznetsova lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to Nadia Petrova, who went into the match after a 6-0, 6-1 third-round victory over U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters.

While the seeded players dropped, former No. 1 Justine Henin continued her run in her first Grand Slam tournament in two years with a 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-3 win over fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, keeping her on track for a quarter-final meeting with Petrova.

Nestor wins twice

Toronto's Daniel Nestor won a pair of doubles matches.

Nestor and Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic won their men's doubles third-round match 6-4, 6-2 over Philipp Marx of Germany and Igor Zelenay of Slovakia.

Then Nestor teamed with Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova to win their opening mixed-doubles contest in a walkover over Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Jaroslav Levinsky of the Czech Republic.