Wimbledon champion Venus Williams said on Thursday she is relishing her first meeting with world No. 3 Dinara Safina in the quarter-finals of Stuttgart’s WTA event.
The American hit an impressive 12 aces as she over-powered Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday to set up a last-eight clash with French Open runner-up Safina.
The first set was fairly close as Williams had her service broken and had to break back before sealing the opener 6-4, but the second was one-way traffic as Williams blasted eight aces, while Bondarenko replied with four double faults.
PHOTO: AP
“The first set was tough, she broke me, so I had to break back and work hard,” Williams said. “It was a good, hard game, but I felt comfortable on court and I am looking forward to the quarter-final.”
This will be the first time Venus and Safina have met on court, but the American said she played close attention to her future opponent’s game when the Russian lost the US Open semi-final to sister Serena last month.
“I have never played her before, but I have seen her play a lot and I am sure she will have seen me play plenty too,” Williams said. “I will have to play the same kind of game Serena played in the Open.”
World No.2 Jelena Jankovic brushed off her jet-lag after arriving in Stuttgart on Monday evening from winning last week’s China Open in Beijing to ease her way past Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 6-0 in the second round.
“I am still waking up at 5am and staring at the ceiling, willing myself back to sleep,” the Serbian star said.
“I was the first at breakfast this morning and went back again later for a second helping,” she said. “I am eating a lot to get over the jet lag because I am awake for so much of the day.”
Jankovic earned a showdown with Russia’s Vera Zvonareva who dominated France’s Marion Bartoli in the second round for a 6-2, 6-0 victory.
“I played her in China last week and it was a hard game, I am going to have to work very, very hard,” Jankovic said.
Earlier in the day, Safina was tested during her 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) second round win over Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova.
Having needed just 21 minutes to take the first set 6-1, Safina was made to work hard in the second as the 21-year-old, 49 places below her in the WTA rankings, took the set to a tie-break with a clever selection of shots.
Pironkova hit four aces in the second set, but Safina put her under pressure in the tie break and the Bulgarian’s inexperience played into her opponents’ hands.
Nadia Petrova, the tournament winner in 2006, made the quarter-finals after her 6-4, 6-1 win over Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder.
Petrova will play China’s Li Na in the quarter-finals.
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