Venus Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 7-6 (7-1) to advance to the quarter finals. After taking the first set Venus won a tight second set at the tie-break. At 3-3 Wozniacki broke serve before holding her serve for 5-3. Williams recovered by reeling off 11 of the next 12 points to draw level to 5-5. After a trade of breaks the second set came down to the tie-break. Venus cruised to a quick 5-0 lead in breaker before sealing the set with 7-1.
Williams hit 43 winners to 37 unforced errors, compared to 9 winners and 17 unforced errors for Wozniacki.
With this win Venus kept her unbeaten streak in her six head-to-head matches over Woznaicki. She dropped just one set in all their matches
“Caroline plays so well. Our last match went down to the wire and this one did too. I just went for it. I respect her so much that I knew I had to bring my best game”, said Williams
Venus will take on Carla Suarez Navarro who fought back from a set down to edge Agniewska Radwanska with 5-7 6-0 6-4. Radwanska clinched the marathon first set but Suarez Navarro recovered to win the second set with a bagel to force the match to the decider. In the third set the Spanish player rallied from 2-5 down to clinch the third set with 6-4. Suarez Navarro hit 43 winners to 29 unforced errors.
Venus’ sister Serena, seven-time Miami champion, cruised past Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2 6-3 in on ehour and 14 minutes. Serena had to save two break point chances in the third game before breaking serve twice to win the first set with 6-2. Serena got an early break to pull away to 3-0. Williams did not perform very well on her serve producing only 54 percent of her first serve points with six aces and seven double faults but she held all her service games. She faced only two break point chances at 3-1 and wrapped up the second set with 6-3 on her first match point. Serena will take on Sabine Lisicki in the quarter fainal
This year’s Indian Wells Simona Halep beat Flavia Pennetta 6-3 7-5 after 1 hour and 32 minutes. Pennetta did not convert on her only break point in the third game. After saving a break point in the fourth game the Italian player dropped her serve in the sixth game. Halep clinched the first set with 6-3. After Pennetta held her serve in the first service game both players traded breaks for five consecutive games. Pennetta opened up a 5-2 lead but Halep held her serve before breaking in the next game after Pennetta came two points away from winning the set. Pennetta did not win a single point in the next two games. At 6-5 for Halep the Italian player earned a break point chance to force the set to tie-break but Halep reeled off three consecutive points to wrap up the match with 6-3 7-5.
There are no Italians left in the tournament as Sara Errani lost to Sabine Lisicki with 6-1 6-2. Lisicki cruised to 5-0 in the first set. Errani held her serve to win her first game but a few minutes later Lisicki wrapped up the first set with 6-1. Errani did not earn a single break point in the first set.
Errani finally broke back in the second game of the second set after dropping her serve in the first game. Lisicki cruised to 5-2 but Errani saved two match points before Lisicki sealed the win in less than one hour.
