Venus Williams staged a second-set rally at the US Open to finish off the challenge of Magdalena Rybarikova
And she booked a fourth-round meeting with Kim Clijsters.
Two-time champion Williams, seeded third at Flushing Meadows, beat the 20-year-old from Slovakia 6-2 7-5 in 87 minutes and now faces former world number one and 2005 winner Clijsters, who defeated fellow Belgian Kirsten Flipkens earlier in the night.
Williams took to the Arthur Ashe Stadium court once again sporting strapping above and below her left knee to support the joint that has been hampering her play this summer with tendinitis.
There were no early signs it was causing her problems as she took on the world number 46, drawing first blood by breaking serve in the fourth game to lead 3-1.
Yet the first signs her normally formidable serve could be deserting her came when she delivered her first double fault in the next game at 30-0 and Rybarikova got to break point, only to send a forehand wide of the line.
A wild miss from Williams gave the Slovakian another break point but the third seed was given an easy put-away at the net to get back to deuce and she aced her next serve to earn game point from where she won the game to go 4-1 up and on to take the first set.
The second set brought a change in momentum as Rybarikova became more aggressive at the same time as Williams seemed to lose her timing.
The American's unforced errors began to accumulate, her first serve evaporated and Rybarikova got an early break, holding serve to go 3-1 up.
Williams regrouped in the sixth game breaking back to level the set up at 3-3 but her serve again was all at sea as she conceded two break points to the 20-year-old.
The third seed dug deep to save the game, forcing deuce with some great mobility to finish a long rally with a forehand out of reach from Rybarikova's forehand.
Williams held and the set continued on serve until finally breaking the deadlock at 5-5, breaking her opponent before serving out for the match.
Meanwhile, defending champion and sister Serena Williams beat Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3 7-5 to win her third-round match at the US Open.
The second seed, who is yet to lose a set in the tournament, carved out 11 break points, but converted just four of them proved enough to claim victory.
The American raced through the opening set in 31 minutes, but her opponent threatened a fightback when she took a 3-1 lead in the second set.
Williams responded, however, getting the set back on serve at 3-2 before going on to clinch the match.
"Today I got super pumped in the second set when I got down 1-3," Williams said on the official US Open website. "Like I felt I needed to do something to charge my battery, so to say, and I just wanted to play harder and do better."
Eighth seed Victoria Azarenka, though, crashed out, Francesca Schiavone winning their third-round encounter 4-6 6-2 6-2.
Belarusian Azarenka got 80% of her first serves in, but won just 56% of points on that serve and just 26% on her second serve.
Six double faults and 46 unforced errors further undermined her performance as Schiavone, the Italian 26th seed, rattled through the second and third sets.
Russian Vera Zvonareva progressed comfortably, knocking out compatriot Elena Vesnina, seeded 31, 6-2 6-4
Elsewhere, 10th seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy crushed Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1 6-1, 18th seed Na Li defeated Maria Kirilenko 6-4 6-2 and 22nd seed Daniela Hantuchova brushed aside Vania King 6-2 6-2.
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