Wimbledon quarterfinals: Venus Williams advances, No. 1 Angelique Kerber ousted
Williams, the only remaining former champion left, will now take on the reigning French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the quarterfinals.
As Wimbledon entered its second week, the men's and women's draw seemed to inhabit disparate worlds.
Two-time Grand Slam victor Kuznetsova will next play Garbine Muguruza, after the Spaniard's 4-6 6-4 6-4 win over world number one Angelique Kerber.
A rock-solid 6-3 6-2 victory over Croatian 19-year-old Ana Konjuh on Centre Court has teed up a quarter-final tussle with Latvia's 20-year-old French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, who was a 6-3 7-6 (8/6) victor against Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina.
But veteran 10th seed Venus appears as likely as anybody to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish on Saturday, and a 6-3 6-2 fourth-round victory over Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh was as impressive as the scoreline indicates.
She entered the tournament under a cloud of controversy after the death of Jerome Barson, a 78-year-old man who was involved in a Palm Beach vehicle crash with Williams last month.
Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the last eight for the fourth time, but the first since 2007, with a 6-2 6-4 victory over ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska. She dropped only three points on her serve in the first set, relying less on power and more on a mixture of spin and placement, allowing the dry hard surface to throw in a degree of disconcerting bounce.
She said: "When I was serving for the match, 5-3, 40-15, I knew if I make a good serve or something, I can win it".
Williams stamped her authority quickly on the second set to break Konjuh and go up 2-1. How many children does she and Andy Murray have, and when did they get married?
After Williams secured a double break to love off the back of a resilient hold, and found herself with three match points.