Venus reaches last eight in San Jose, Keys withdraws
>> SAN JOSE: Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams held off Britain’s Heather Watson 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA at the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, California.
Third seed Williams is the highest seed left in a tournament that saw second seed Madison Keys follow top seed Garbine Muguruza in pulling out because of injury on Thursday.
Keys, the defending champion, pulled out with a right wrist injury before taking the court for her second-round opener against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.
“I have been feeling pain in my wrist over the last couple of days and felt worse today,” said Keys, who was replaced in the draw by lucky loser Magdalena Frech.
Tomljanovic beat Poland’s Frech 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to book a quarter-final clash with fifth seed Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu, a 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 winner over American teenager Amanda Anisimova.
Williams will take on Greece’s Maria Sakkari, who strolled to a 6-0 6-1 win over Hungarian Timea Babos earlier in the day.
Williams, who won the title in this event in 2000 and 2002, came back with a vengeance after dropping the second set to Watson. She broke the Briton three times in the final set, dropping just four points on her serve.
“It was a tough match and she played incredible. There were times where I had no answers,” said Williams, who said her goal was to “control the points and enjoy the battle, just get out there and try to do what I know that I can.
“It worked out, thankfully,” added the 38-year-old American, who is now the highest remaining seed in the tournament.
The other t wo quarter-final match-ups were decided on Wednesday, when Britain’s Johanna Konta followed up her stunning defeat of Serena Williams with a straight-set victory over US teenager Sofia Kenin to book a meeting with fourth seed Elise Mertens of Belgium.
American Daniell Collins will take on former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka for a place in the semi-finals.