Ninth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova encountered little difficulty against defending champion Venus Williams as she defeated the American 6-2, 6-2, in the third round of the Wuhan Open.
Playing under the roof in Wuhan due to the rainy conditions, Kuznetsova broke in the first game of the match thanks to a duo of double faults from her opponent. The below-par opening game from Williams was a trend that continued as Kuznetsova capitalized on the costly errors to take a stronghold in the match. A total of 15 unforced errors and six double faults was produced by the American in the first set, enabling her opponent to clinch the opening set after 29 minutes of play.
It wasn’t until the closing stage of the match where Kuznetsova experienced the tough resistance of her opponent that many expected. Cruising to a 4-1 lead, the 31-year-old successfully fended off a duo of break points to move to a game away from the victory. Failing to convert a match point against Williams serve, Kuznetsova worked her way to a second chance after error No.23 came off the racket of the defending champion. The match was then sealed with an ace out wide from the Russian.
“I think Venus wasn’t feeling her best game today, but I was feeling better, feeling good and it was a good match.” Kuznetsova said during her on court interview.
Firing 20 winners in her last 16 match, the former US Open runner-up will play either third seed Agnieszka Radwanska or Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, Williams is set to drop outside of the top 10 following her loss.
Halep eases through
There was better news for fourth seed Simona Halep, who defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-3, in less than 80 minutes. Playing in the tricky weather conditions before the rain struck, the Romanian claimed 85% of her first service points and converted 8/12 break points.
“I felt the wind. It was really difficult to play against the wind. She’s very strong and could attack the ball very easily,” Halep was quoted by wtatour.com as saying. “She came out very aggressive, but I blocked the ball well, returned well and I’m happy with the way I played and that I could win in two sets.”
In the last eight Halep will play Madison Keys. The world No.9 required almost two hours to see off qualifier Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Halep currently has a 3-1 head-to-head winning record against Keys and has already defeated her twice this year.
A quarter-final win would secure Halep’s place in the upcoming WTA Finals in Singapore.
