Serena: I can still do better

Serena Williams maintained her dominant run at the Australian Open yesterday, but said there is still room for further improvement. The No 1 seed cruised past Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-3 and said: "I felt like I played okay. I still feel like I can do better. I think my forehand was solid today. I liked it today a lot." The 2008 champion plays Samantha Stosur in the fourth round tomorrow and the American added she would not be taking her Australian opponent lightly.

She said of the 13th seed: "I think she's playing great. She beat me the last time we played, so she has a lot of momentum. A ton of momentum. "She's on the up and up and is a nice girl. She has nothing to lose going into this match." A semi-final match-up with her sister Venus remains on track after the sixth seed proved too good for the Australian Casey Dellacqua, with a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) victory. It was her third consecutive match against a left-handed opponent in the tournament, and she joked: "It was my third lefty in a row, which is a little unusual.

"You know, hopefully I'll be able to get back into the rhythm of playing right-handers." She meets the 17th seed Francesca Schiavone for a quarter-final place tomorrow after the Italian surprised 10th seed Agnieszka Radwanska with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph. Fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki, a US Open finalist in 2009, was also on impressive form as she cantered past the challenge of Shahar Peer with ease, triumphing 6-4, 6-0.

Next opponent for the Danish player is China's Na Li, who defeated 22nd seed Daniela Hantuchova 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in the only women's match yesterday to go to three sets. Seventh seed Victoria Azare-nka, from Belarus and Russian ninth seed Vera Zvonareva both won in straight sets and they will take each other on next for a place in the last eight. gcaygill@thenational.ae

Another way to earn air miles

In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.

An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.

“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.