Serena Williams moved to within two victories of equalling Steffi Graf's 22 grand slam titles as she brushed aside Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

Williams' 6-4 6-4 win seals a last-four spot in the grand slam for the top seed and keeps her on course for a clash against her sister Venus in Saturday's final.

A successful defence of her title at the All England Club would move Williams level with Graf, and leave her just two behind Margaret Court's record of 24.

Williams was quickly on the attack on Centre Court as she picked up where she left off against Svetlana Kuznetsova, the American not enduring a tough first set like she had done on Monday.

The forehand power on show from the world number one enabled her to control rallies and she could have moved ahead earlier had a few unforced errors not crept into her game.

Pavlyuchenkova kept pace with Williams for the opening eight games of the match, but in the ninth Williams found her opening and duly converted it with a string of powerful groundstrokes.

Having served out the set, Williams looked in no mood to hang around with another step up in her level, but Pavlyuchenkova was not going quietly, the Russian finding some crisp winners much to the frustration of her illustrious opponent.

The ninth game of the set proved decisive once again as Williams found a way through, and once again she served out superbly to seal her progression to the last four.

STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN
Williams [1] bt Pavlyuchenkova (21) 6-4 6-4

WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Williams - 29/19
Pavlyuchenkova - 16/9

ACES
Williams - 11
Pavlyuchenkova - 3

BREAK POINTS WON
Williams - 2/2
Pavlyuchenkova - 0/0

FIRST SERVE PERCENTAGE
Williams - 69
Pavlyuchenkova - 72

PERCENTAGE OF POINTS WON ON FIRST/SECOND SERVE
Williams - 90/33
Pavlyuchenkova - 68/41

TOTAL POINTS
Williams - 29
Pavlyuchenkova - 16