Williams and Clijsters into quarters
Sunday, 5 September 2010 20:03Twice champion Venus Williams came through a testing match to beat Israel's Shahar Peer 7-6 6-3 and reach the U.S. Open quarter-finals.
Williams struggled with her own serve in the blustery conditions and that of her opponent, the tournament's 16th seed.
The American third seed, bidding for an eighth grand slam title, had plenty of opportunities to break in the first set but converted just two of 10 break-point chances as it went to a tiebreak.
There the power of Williams' ground strokes proved too much for Peer, who remained an obdurate opponent in the next set, which the American won with greater ease.
Defending champion Kim Clijsters eased past close friend Ana Ivanovic 6-2 6-1 to reach the last eight.
The match between the two former world number ones had been hotly anticipated at the Arthur Ashe Stadium but Ivanovic, who had shown signs of her best form in the earlier rounds after a difficult 18 months, seemed to lack confidence against the second seed.
Belgian Clijsters broke the Serbian's serve three times in the first set and repeated the feat in the second set for a comfortable passage into the quarter-finals.
Italian Francesca Schiavone also breezed into the quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-0 demolition of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia.
The French Open champion, seeded sixth, outplayed her 20th-seeded opponent to reach the last eight in New York for the second time.
Schiavone eased through the first set and was leading 3-0 in the second when Pavlyuchenkova had treatment on her right elbow.
The break did not unsettle Schiavone, though, and she rattled off the last three games to seal a meeting with third seed Venus Williams or 16th seed Shahar Peer of Israel.
