Venus Williams continued her quest for her first title of 2016 with a 6-4, 6-2, win over world No.113 Urszula Radwanska.
Despite being rankling 101 places higher than Radwanska, Williams got off to a slow start. After holding her opening service game, the 35-year-old dropped her second to allow her opponent to open up a 4-1 lead. Radwanska’s lead was short-lived after Williams won back-to-back breaks of the Polish players serve to seal the first set after 47 minutes of play. Playing in windy conditions the world No.12 had trouble with her serve throughout the opening set, producing 2 double faults and getting only 49% of her first serves in (winning 67% of them).
Leading by a set, Williams increased her intensity in the second set as she broke Radwanska three consecutive times to raced to a 5-0 lead. The top seed was unable to get the bagel set after Radwanska broke Williams for the first time in the set followed by holding her service. The late resurgence from the world No.113 was too little too late as Williams sealed the match with a love service game.
Throughout the match, the world No.12 produced two aces, two double faults and won 63% of her service points to reach the quarterfinals at the tournament.
Awaiting Williams in the last eight will be Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova. The 25-year-old battled past Donna Vekic in her second round match on Wednesday. Sevastova achieved a ranking high of 36 back in 2011 and retired from the sport in May 2013 due to illness and injury. She returned to the tour in January 2015. The last eight clash between Williams and the Latvian will be their first encounter on the tour.
Second seed Misaki Doi booked her place in a all-Japanese quarterfinal after cruising past Magda Linette 6-2, 6-3. In the seemingly straightforward match, Doi struggled with her serve. The world No.61 produced 6 double faults and only managed to get 47% of her first serves in. Next up for Doi will be compatriot Kurumi Nara, a player that she has lost to in their two previous meetings (Hammond, 2010 and Tokyo, 2015).
Stefanie Voegele stunned fifth seed Saisai Zheng in straight sets to reach only her second WTA quarterfinal within the past 12 months. The match was a roller coaster encounter between the two players with ten breaks of serve (four for Voegele and six for Zheng). Nevertheless, the Swiss player managed to edged her way to the 6-4, 6-4, victory after an hour and 50 minutes. Voegele will now play third seed Yulia Putintseva for a place in the semifinals.
In the final match of the day, sixth seed Su-Wei Hsieh was forced to dig deep before battling past Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. During the one hour and 50 minute match, Hsieh produced four aces and won 67% of her service points. In the next round she will play unseeded Russian Elizaveta Kulichkova.
.@WTA_Taiwan_Open Quarterfinals set!
Venus vs Sevastova
Putintseva vs Voegele
Hsieh vs Kulichkova
Nara vs Doi #WTA— WTA (@WTA) February 11, 2016
