Veteran Venus made to sweat

– Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams (above) held off Britain’s Heather Watson 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the WTA hardcourt tournament in San Jose, California.

Third-seeded Williams is the highest seed left in a tournament that saw second seed Madison Keys follow top-seeded Garbine Muguruza in pulling out because of injury on Thursday.

Keys, the defending champion here, was forced to pull 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-seeded Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu, a 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 winner over American teenager Amanda Anisimova.

Williams was set to take on Greece’s Maria Sakkari, who dominated eighth-seeded Hungarian Timea Babos 6-0, 6-1.

Williams, who won the title in this tournament way back 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”.

American Daniell Collins will take on former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka for a place in the semifinals. – AFP