Mason, OH (Sports Network) - Venus Williams was hard-fought quarterfinal
winner Friday at the WTA's $2.168 million Western & Southern Open.
The wild card Williams upended third-seeded U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur 6-2,
6-7 (2-7), 6-4 on the hardcourts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. The
former world No. 1 American advanced in 2 hours, 34 minutes despite piling up
nine double faults on Day 5.
The 32-year-old Williams, who's been slowed mightily by an autoimmune disease
over the last couple of seasons, will now appear in her first semifinal in
almost two years, or since the 2010 U.S. Open.
Meanwhile, the third round was completed on Friday when 17th-seeded Russian
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova upset sixth-seeded former top-ranked Danish star
Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-4 and ninth-seeded Chinese Li Na leveled Swedish
qualifier Johanna Larsson 6-2, 6-2. The two matches were suspended/postponed
because of rain on Thursday night.
Li was this past Monday's Montreal runner-up to Czech slugger Petra Kvitova.
The Sports Network