WIMBLEDON, England -- Venus Williams swept to another easy straight-set victory Tuesday as she moved into the semifinals and closer to her third straight Wimbledon title.

	Venus Williams is one win away from her third consecutive Wimbledon final.

Top-seeded Williams crushed 48th-ranked Elena Likhovtseva 6-2, 6-0 in 44 minutes in the day's opening match on Centre Court.

It was Williams' eighth consecutive win over the Russian, all in straight sets.

Likhovtseva, the only unseeded player to reach the women's quarters, was helpless against the American's relentless power game and won only seven points in the second set.

"I'm just trying to play more solid every round, garner each point for myself," Williams said. "When it happens like it did today, it's very nice I think. I don't think she gave me a lot of errors. I had to produce most of the shots and put a lot of pressure on her."

Williams has spent only 4½ hours on court in her run to the semifinals and remains a strong favorite to become the first woman to win three straight titles since Steffi Graf in 1991-93.

"Now I expect for myself to be almost perfect," she said. "When I first started, first getting to the quarterfinals, it was all new. But now I expect to be there."

Williams will next face Henin, whom she beat in three sets in last year's final. Henin, seeded sixth, beat No. 4 Seles 7-5, 7-6 (4) in a match that was interrupted twice by rain.

"She didn't play top players in the tournament, so maybe I have a little advantage on this part," Henin said of Williams. "But it's going to be tough for me. But today also it was difficult and I won. I'm in the semifinal and I will have nothing to lose, for sure."

It was Henin's first win over Seles after four defeats, including a quarterfinal loss at the French Open last month.

Henin broke for a 6-5 lead in the first set, saved a break point in the next game and served out the set when Seles hesitated on a floater and hit a short forehand wide.

Seles went up 4-1 in the second set but couldn't hold the lead as Henin won three straight games. Seles fought off four break points to hold for 5-4 and the two players went on serve into the tiebreaker.

Henin raced to leads of 4-1 and 6-2. Seles saved two points with an ace and a backhand winner, but sailed a backhand return long on the third.

Seles, 28, has nine Grand Slam titles but has never won Wimbledon, where she lost in the 1992 final to Steffi Graf.

"She just played the key points better than I did, both sets," Seles said of Henin. "That's why she came out the winner today."

Play started just over an hour late on Centre Court and Court 1 after a rain delay, the second straight day of wet weather.

No. 3 Jennifer Capriati advanced to the quarterfinals by completing a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 win over 38th-ranked Eleni Daniilidou of Greece. With the match suspended at one set apiece Monday, Capriati swept the final set in less than half an hour, finishing with an ace on match point.

The match resumed just before 6 p.m. after a series of rain delays throughout the afternoon. The match was moved from Court 1 to Court 18 to ensure it could be completed.

Capriati said the extra day worked in her favor.

"In that second set, she was playing pretty unbelievable," she said. "It would have been very tough to beat her if we would have kept playing. I really came out strong today."

Capriati will face ninth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France in the semifinals.

Williams will next face No. 6 Justine Henin, whom she beat in last year's final. Henin defeated Monica Seles 7-5, 7-6 (4).

Williams' sister, Serena, is scheduled to play Daniela Hantuchova in a quarterfinal Wednesday. The Williams sisters are on course to meet in their third Grand Slam final in 10 months.