Top seed Venus Williams dragged herself back from the brink of defeat to reach the semi-finals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel tournament.
The defending champion reeled off six successive games in the deciding set to overcome Spanish qualifier Laura Pios Tio 4-6 6-3 7-5 in their last eight clash.
A major upset had looked likely when Pios Tio, ranked 399 in the world, led Williams 5-1 and was serve for the match in the deciding third set.
However, nerves clearly got the better of the 25-year-old, as Williams reeled off the next six games to sneak through to the last four of the clay-court event.
Williams, who won in Dubai last week, will meet Romania's Edina Gallovits, the world 164, for a place in the final after she defeated Sharon Finchman 7-5 6-2.
In the other half of the draw, second seed Agnes Szavay bowed out after a left thigh injury forced her to retire trailing 19-year-old Slovenian Polona Hercog 6-4 1-0.
Hercog, the eighth seed, will now attempt to reach her first WTA Tour final when she meets fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro.
Suarez Navarro knocked out third seed Gisela Dulko 6-1 7-6 (7-4) to reach the last four.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment