PARIS -- Serena Williams walked out onto Court Philippe Chatrier with the unbreakable stare of a prizefighter.

	You can see it in her eyes that Serena Williams is determined to win this title.

If looks could kill?

"Pretty much at this stage of the tournament," Williams said later, "you have to be ready to do just about anything."

Williams then proceeded to flog French hope Amelie Mauresmo into submission. The final score of Tuesday's quarterfinal match -- 6-1, 6-2 -- fails to fully capture Williams' dominance.

"It's difficult when you're playing a player who the crowd loves so much and who does so much for their country and you're playing here in their country," Williams said. "It's like you have to put yourself in a bubble and pretend as if nothing's around and pretend as if you don't hear anything and just pretend you're the only person on that court."

Williams is the only person, man or woman, who seems fully committed to winning this tournament. Her eyes have it.

In a 64-minute match, the No. 1 seed won her 33rd consecutive Grand Slam singles match. Williams is now two matches from winning her fifth consecutive Grand Slam, which seems ever more likely given the depth of her victory over fifth-seeded Mauresmo.

"She played great tennis, but I think I wasn't really playing my best level today," Mauresmo said.

"Even the warm-up, when we played those five minutes, I was just feeling the same as I was feeling for the (earlier) rounds. But then I got a little tense at the beginning. She was very aggressive. I don't know, then the legs don't move as well, placement is not good, the arm doesn't go through. Then it's a little bit everything."

History will show that Mauresmo actually lost this match three weeks ago, when she somehow managed to beat Williams in the semifinals at Rome. It was Mauresmo's first victory in six matches against the American. Williams won the first set but, inexplicably, lost her grip and went down 7-5, 6-3. It was the end of a 21-match winning streak and Williams was so angry, she locked herself in her hotel room.

Was Williams victory on Tuesday a case of revenge?

"I don't necessarily feel revenge," Williams said, maintaining a straight face. "I didn't play well in Rome. When I play well, it's hard to beat me."

Williams' opponent in Thursday's semifinal is Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne, who made the same mistake that Mauresmo did; she handed Williams her only other defeat of the year, a straight-sets affair in the finals at Charleston.

Revenge is, again, a possibility.

"Yes," said Williams, laughing.

"Last time, I won," said Hennin-Hardenne after defeating Chanda Rubin 6-3, 6-2. "But she's going to have great motivation to beat me. I know that."

Of Williams' victory over Mauresmo, Henin-Hardenne said. "She was so focused, she was so determinated."

Ah, De Terminator. Nothing lost in that translation.

Mauresmo came into the match bearing the weight of an entire nation's hopes and dreams. It was her deepest penetration here at the French Open and she said her often tenuous confidence had been restored. She was, she said, looking forward to playing Williams on her home court. Mauresmo also admitted that if Williams was on her game, she could not possibly win.

That's just how it happened.

Seven minutes into the match, it was 3-0. Her serve, as well as her nerve, failed to materialize. Williams, who won 14 of the match's first 16 points, was spot-on. Almost every time Mauresmo missed her first serve, a shallow second offering was sent back for a clean winner.

Williams' glare was searing; Mauresmo had been enveloped by a perfectly terrible serve. When Mauresmo finally stopped the bleeding, breaking Williams at 4-0, the crowd tried to will her back into the match. She won the first two points of the sixth game, but lost the last four.

The second set lasted a little longer, thanks to the last game, a quadruple-deuce job that ended when Mauresmo nudged a weak, unforced backhand into the net

The numbers were telling.

Mauresmo won only 11 points in the first set and 36 all told.

The French woman made only 35 percent of her first serves in the first set and 66 percent for the match. Her second serves were short and weak; Williams won 83 percent of the points when she got a look at the second ball. Most of them were clean, whistling winners.

"Usually, the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam is usually when I put myself in a new gear," Williams said. "I usually say to myself, 'I have a chance to win this tournament.' I've gotten this far, maybe I can go another couple steps.

"So at that point, it's just my desire. I think no one can say to someone else, you know, 'You have to do this. Go, go, go.' You have to say it to yourself so you can be motivated."

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.