WUHAN: Former world number one Venus Williams claimed the 700th win of her career on Tuesday, beating Germany’s Julia Goerges 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the Wuhan Open.

The 35-year-old American became the ninth woman to chalk up 700 victories since tennis turned professional in 1968 but still has a long way to go to catch all-time leader Martina Navratilova (1,442).

“I’m glad nobody told me before, I would have been a little bit nervous,” Venus said. “It was a good match, she’s a quality player.”

Venus is a seven-time major champion who won her last Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2008.

Defending champion Petra Kvitova also advanced, beating Daria Gavrilova of Russia 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. Kvitova will next face 15th-seeded Roberta Vinci in the third round.

Two other former world number ones did not fare so well.

Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki was beaten 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) by Anna Karolina Schmiedlova after blowing a 6-1, 4-1 lead in a marathon match that lasted almost three hours.

“I’m very, very happy and very, very tired right now,” said Slovak Schmiedlova who will next meet Kristina Mladenovic — a 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 winner over 14th-seeded Madison Keys of the United States.

Belarussian Victoria Azarenka was another early casualty, retiring from her match with Britain’s Johanna Konta because of a leg injury while trailing 6-4, 1-0.

“It’s always not easy to make the decision. You know, I don’t know if it was the right way to play that long because I started feeling it right in the beginning of the match,” Azarenka said.

Belinda Bencic of Switzerland also retired from her match against Camila Giorgi of Italy with a left leg injury after dropping the first set 6-2 to join the growing ranks of walking wounded at the tournament.

Eleventh seed Bencic had looked visibly tired in her first round match Monday, which came just a day after she lost the final of the WTA Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo to Agnieszka Radwanska.

The pair follow Maria Sharapova — who retired Monday from her first match since Wimbledon with a new arm injury — and Canadian Eugenie Bouchard who pulled out before playing at all, saying she had not yet recovered from a concussion at the US Open.

Ana Ivanovic advanced with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Madison Brengle. The ninth-seeded Ivanovic has only dropped seven games in two matches.

In the final match of the day, top-seeded Simona Halep beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-1.

In other matches, sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany defeated Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-4, 2-6, 6-2; 12th-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine beat Varvara Lepchenko of the US 6-4, 6-2; and Coco Vandeweghe of US beat Caroline Garcia of France 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6).

Published in Dawn September 30th, 2015

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