TENNIS in DEPTH.

Venus Williams and 13th-seeded Marion Bartoli were each straight-set quarterfinal winners Tuesday at the $4.5 million Sony Ericsson Open.

The third-seeded former world No. 1 Williams blitzed sixth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 6-1 on the hardcourts at Crandon Park. Radwanska is now a dismal 4-18 lifetime against top-five performers.

The red-hot Williams has now won her last 14 matches, including recent titles in Dubai and Acapulco.

The 29-year-old Williams, who titled here in 1998, 1999 and 2001, will meet Bartoli of France in Thursday’s semifinals. Bartoli snuck past 12th-seeded Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-4, 7-5 in just under two hours.

Williams and Bartoli have split two prior meetings on the tennis court. The American beat the 25-year-old Bartoli in the 2007 Wimbledon finale, but Bartoli got the best of Williams in last year’s title match at Stanford.

Two other quarterfinals will be staged here on Wednesday, as second-seeded U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki will meet Aussie Open runner-up and former top-ranked star Justine Henin and ninth-seeded Aussie Samantha Stosur will battle 14th-seeded U.S. Open champ Kim Clijsters. The former world No. 1 Clijsters captured this Miami event in 2005. The seven-time major titlist Henin was the runner-up at this so-called “Fifth Slam” in 2007.

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