STANFORD: Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams ousted fourth-seeded birthday girl Victoria Azarenka in straight sets Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA hardcourt tournament at Stanford.

The 6-4, 7-6 (7/1) triumph kept Venus on course for a possible semi-final showdown with her sister Serena, the world number one and top seed who will take on Ana Ivanovic in the quarter-finals on Friday.

“Williams-Williams tomorrow, hopefully,” Venus told the crowd at the campus of Stanford University, where she came out on top in a hard-fought, physical duel with Azarenka that lasted an hour and 42 minutes.

“It’s never easy to play Victoria. We’ve always had extremely tough matches, so I expected that tonight as well,” said Venus, who acknowledged that Azarenka may have been at a disadvantage after having a first-round bye.

That meant the match was the Belarussian’s first since her second-round exit at Wimbledon.

It was a disappointing result on her 25th birthday for Azarenka, who came into the week ranked 10th in the world but needed to reach the semi-finals to stay in the top 10.

A left foot injury sidelined her for three months this year before she returned to action at the Wimbledon tuneup event at Eastbourne.

The former world number one, who owns two Australian Open titles, didn’t go quietly.

She gamely fought off two match points in the 12th game of the second set to force the tiebreaker, but from there it was all Venus.

The 34-year-old American won the first point of the tiebreaker on her own serve, then fired two forehand winners to take the next two points on Azarenka’s serve and never looked back.

Azarenka double faulted to give Venus a 6-1 lead, and the American held on to win the next point -- firing over a running forehand that Azarenka could only belt back into the net.

Venus had come on strong late in the opening set as well, sealing the frame with a service break in the final game.

Venus next faces eighth-seeded German Andrea Petkovic, who booked her quarter-final berth on Wednesday.

Earlier Thursday, fifth-seeded Ivanovic cruised past Canadian qualifier 6-1, 6-1 in just 54 minutes to book her third meeting this year with Serena Williams.

Ivanovic, a former world number one herself, downed the American at the Australian Open, a defeat that Serena avenged in Rome.

The two have never played each other this many times in one season.

“It’s a good sign,” Ivanovic said.

“It means we’re getting further into the tournaments to play each other.”

In other matches on Thursday, third-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany got past American Coco Vandeweghe 7-6 (7/4), 0-6, 6-2 to book a quarter-final with rising Spanish talent Garbine Muguruza — a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-4.

Results:

Second round: Ana Ivanovic (SRB x5) bt Carol Zhao (CAN) 6-1, 6-1; Venus Williams (USA) bt Victoria Azarenka (BLR x4) 6-4, 7-6 (7/1); Garbine Muguruza (ESP) bt Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 6-4, 6-4; Angelique Kerber (GER x3) bt Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 7-6 (7/4), 0-6, 6-2.

NISHIKORI REACHES QUARTERS

WASHINGTON: Japan’s Kei Nishikori battled through a second challenging three-set test Thursday to reach an ATP Washington Open quarter-final against a foe he has never beaten, Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

Fourth-seeded Nishikori outlasted Slovakian Lukas Lacko 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 while sixth seed Gasquet downed American Tim Smyczek 6-3, 6-2.

That will send two of the three top remaining seeds in the $1.9 million (1.4 million euro) hardcourt event against each other to decide a semi-final berth.

“I’m sure it’s going to be the toughest match this week,” Nishikori said.

“I’ve never beaten him so it’s going to be a big challenge.”

Gasquet, ranked 14th is 4-0 all-time against 11th-ranked Nishikori, having dropped only one set to him. But this will be the nearest to a final they have met.

Gasquet won their first meeting at Tokyo in 2008, again at Queen’s in 2010 and twice last year at Montreal and Paris ATP Masters series events.

“He has a great serve, strong forehand and backhand and he’s very talented,” Nishikori said. “I have to serve better than I did today.”

Nishikori fired eight aces but made six double faults and connected on only 53 percent of his first serves against Lacko.

“It was tough,” Nishikori said. “The second set he began playing much better. Maybe I lost concentration but I fought through it in the third set.”

Nishikori jumped ahead 4-0 before Lacko won the next three games only to have Nishikori raise his game and break him to claim the match, his second three-set triumph in a row.

“It’s a positive for me to win in three sets two matches in a row,” Nishikori said, noting that he wanted matches to build confidence after a three-week layoff since Wimbledon.

Nishikori, 24, is seeking his sixth career ATP title and third of the season after defending a crown at Memphis and collecting a clay-court title at Barcelona. He also won in 2008 at Delray Beach and at Tokyo in 2012.

Gasquet, 28, seeks his 11th career ATP crown and first on US soil after taking titles last year at Doha, Moscow and Montpelier, where he was runner-up this year. He was also a finalist at Eastbourne this season.

Gasquet, who made a semi-final run at last year’s US Open to match his best Grand Slam showing from Wimbledon in 2007, played two weeks ago at Bogota and suffered a right arm injury that forced him out of last week’s event in Atlanta.

“I couldn’t even serve a ball,” Gasquet said. “For three days here I didn’t serve. Now it feels fine.” That gives him hope of duplicating his success in Flushing Meadows when the US Open begins on August 25.

“There are a lot of big matches to come for me,” Gasquet said.

Results: Men’s:

Third round: Kevin Anderson (RSA x7) bt Malek Jaziri (TUN) 6-3, 6-4; Steve Johnson (USA) bt Ivo Karlovic (CRO x9) 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (9/7); Donald Young (USA) bt Denis Istomin (UZB) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Milos Raonic (CAN x2) bt Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/3); Richard Gasquet (FRA x6) bt Tim Smyczek (USA) 6-3, 6-2; Vasek Pospisil (CAN) bt Tomas Berdych (CZE x1) 6-2, 6-4; Santiago Giraldo (USA) bt Victor Estrella Burgos (DOM) 6-2, 6-0; Kei Nishikori (JPN x4) bt Lukas Lacko (SVK) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

Women’s:

Second round: Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x6) bt Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 6-4, 7-5; Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x5) bt Hiroko Kuwata (JPN) 6-3, 6-3; Vania King (USA) bt Christina McHale (USA) 6-1, 6-3; Ekaterina Makarova (RUS x2) bt Lauren Davis (USA) 6-2, 6-4.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2014