Venus Williams advanced to the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park for the seventh time to set up a meeting with China's Li Na, who has never gone this far at the Australian Open.

Maria Sharapova's Wimbledon build-up suffered a setback on Saturday when she was knocked out of the Birmingham grasscourt event 6-4, 6-4 by China's Li Na.

China's Li Na, the 25th seed, had the honour of becoming the first player to reach the French Open second round on Sunday thanks to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Poland's Marta Domachowska.

Outspoken Chinese tennis star Li Na has called for an overhaul of the nation's famously rigid sports programme to give athletes the right to pursue their careers without strict government controls.

Olympic semi-finalist Li Na crashed out of the China Open in the first round on Tuesday despite high hopes in Beijing for home-grown success.