Venus Williams advances to Bank of the West quarterfinals
STANFORD, Calif. - Top-seeded Venus Williams beat Magda Linette 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-2 on Wednesday in the second round of the Bank of the West Classic.
Williams, a Wimbledon semifinalist this month, won the first two points of the second-set tiebreaker but lost the next six. She tied it at 6 before Linette closed it out. Williams raced to a 4-0 lead in the third set after twice breaking Linette.
Williams, with younger sister Serena watching, advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament where she made her professional in 1994.
Third-seeded Johanna Konta and No. 5 Misaki Doi also won.
Konta had six aces in the first set and beat wild-card Julia Boserup 6-3, 6-1 in just over an hour. Konta, Britain's top player, will face China's Zheng Saisai in the round of eight Friday. Saisai upset seventh-seeded Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-1 to reach her third quarterfinal of the year.
Doi topped fellow Japanese player and doubles partner Nao Hibino 6-3, 6-4.