Alicia Molik stepped up her preparations for the Australian Open by downing Ukrainian ace Alona Bondarenko in straight sets at the Hobart International on Tuesday night.

Molik has set up a quarter-finals showdown with her Indian doubles partner Sania Mirza on Wednesday following her 6-3 7-5 victory over Bondarenko.

"I was very happy with that match, it was a good 30 or 40 per cent better than yesterday," she said.

"I served well and I defended well and retrieved well.

"I felt like she didn't see too many spaces and I didn't let her hit too many winners.

"I felt my defensive game was on-song.

"I've built a lot on yesterday's match and I don't think I could be happier with my game at this point in time."

Molik believes her performance matched her efforts when she was ranked No 8 in the world three years ago.

"When I was No.8 I played a good few matches like today, there was no difference," she said.

"It's just a matter of not doing it just on one night, one week, it's doing over the course of six months, 12 months, consistently and constantly.

"When I was ranked that high there really wasn't too much difference.

"What was different I was thinking very positively, very confidently at the time.

"That's part of the process, to build on yesterday's match and I'd say that's my most successful; point, just looking to build on my improvement every single day, nothing more really."

US star Serena Williams advanced to the quarter-finals with a thrilling three-set win over Czech Lucie Safarova 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-5).

Williams called on her sister Venus for information about the athletic left-hander.

"I spoke to Venus before the match, she's played her before and she said that she was a tough opponent," Williams said.

"So I knew from the start she was probably going to play better than she's played in her whole life.

"But Venus didn't give me any good pointers, actually.

"She told me some false information, so I'll be calling her back about that."

Williams will meet Austrian Sybille Bammer, ranked world No 53, in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Bammer advanced by outing tournament No.2 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4 6-3 in their second round clash.

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