Venus tops birthday girl Azarenka
Print Edition
SEVEN-TIME grand slam champion Venus Williams ousted fourth-seeded birthday girl Victoria Azarenka in straight sets on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Bank of West Classic in Stanford, California.
The 6-4, 7-6 (1) triumph kept Williams on course for a possible semifinal showdown with her sister Serena, the world No. 1 and top seed who takes on Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals.
“Williams-Williams tomorrow, hopefully,” Venus told the crowd at the campus of Stanford University, where she came out on top in a hard-fought, physical duel with Azarenka that lasted an hour and 42 minutes.
“It’s never easy to play Victoria. We’ve always had extremely tough matches, so I expected that tonight as well,” said Williams, who acknowledged that Azarenka may have been at a disadvantage after having a first-round bye.
That meant the match was the Belarussian’s first since her second-round exit at Wimbledon.
It was a disappointing result on her 25th birthday for Azarenka, who came into the week ranked 10th in the world but needed to reach the semifinals to stay in the top 10.
A left foot injury sidelined her for three months this year before the former world No. 1 returned to action at the Wimbledon tune-up event in Eastbourne.
Williams next faces German eighth-seed Andrea Petkovic.
In other matches on Thursday, third-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany got past American Coco Vandeweghe 7-6 (4), 0-6, 6-2 to book a quarterfinal with Spain’s Garbine Muguruza — a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-4.
In Washington, Vasek Pospisil eliminated top seed Tomas Berdych at the Citi Open on Thursday, winning 6-2, 6-4 to progress to the quarterfinals.
Berdych unofficially committed 21 unforced errors and had his serve broken four times, including the final game of each set. Two of Pospisil’s three career top-10 wins have come against Berdych.
Pospisil only lost serve once, saving three of four break points. He will next face No. 10 Santiago Giraldo, a 6-2, 6-0 winner over Victor Estrella Burgos.
American Steve Johnson knocked off another experienced seed, beating No. 9 Ivo Karlovic 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7).
The American will face seventh-ranked and second-seeded Milos Raonic, the Canadian who edged Australian veteran Lleyton Hewitt 7-6 (1), 7-6 (3).
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