DEFENDING champion Serena Williams beat Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 6-3 at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne on Monday and will renew one of tennis’ best rivalries with Justine Henin in the quarterfinals.

It would be a rematch of last year’s final, which Henin lost after Williams erased two championship points.

“Actually it’s a very good memory from last year, even if I had match points and I lost the match,” Henin said.

“It was a day that I understood that I could win against Serena, and that I could do it in grand slams three times in the same year.”

Williams has lost their past three meetings, all last year, at the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. But she’s sure to be fired up again for the match.

“We definitely bring out some of the best tennis in each other,” Williams said. “And she tends to play really well against me — probably better against me than other opponents. So it’s definitely a good match for me.”

Lindsay Davenport could not follow-up her victory over Ana Ivanovic with another big-name scalp. China’s Zheng Jie crashed to Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-4, 7-5.

Earlier, top-seeded Henin defeated Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-2, 6-2 and advanced from the fourth round with third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and fourth seed Jelena Jankovic, both of whom overcame match points in earlier rounds.

Sixth seed Venus Williams joined her sister in the quarterfinals by beating 17-year-old Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-3.

Eighth seed Serena Williams looked sloppy in a third-round victory, when she committed 60 unforced errors, but she pared that total to 24 against Estonia’s Kanepi.

“I definitely feel like I was focused,” Williams said. “I felt like I had to be. The other match was definitely a good eye opener.”

Henin hit eight aces and held every service game against Vesnina. Kuznetsova defeated Shahar Peer of Israel 7-6, 6-3.

In the quarterfinals, Venus Williams will play Kuznetsova, and Jankovic will meet Elena Dementieva, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Germany’s Sabine Lasicki.

Davenport hit a bump in her career comeback when she lost to Dinara Safina 6-3, 6-4.

It was a flat followup to Davenport’s win Sunday over second seed Ana Ivanovic. That upset victory was the biggest for Davenport since she returned to the women’s tour last summer after becoming a parent.

“That’s the thing with tennis,” Davenport said. “Every day you start over. But hopefully more positives than negatives come from this tournament.”

(SD-Agencies)