Venus, Muguruza through to quarters in Rome
ROME - Venus Williams defeated Johanna Konta 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Italian Open.
Konta had won her previous three meetings against Williams but the American dominated the first set. Although Konta rallied in the second, another double break in the third handed Williams victory.
Williams will take on Garbine Muguruza after the 2016 French Open champion beat Julia Gorges 7-5, 6-4.
Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit, who beat top-ranked Angelique Kerber in the second round, continued her dream debut. Kontaveit beat 16th-seeded Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-1, 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal against Madrid Open champion Simona Halep.
The sixth-seeded Halep beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 4-6, 6-0.
Qualifier Daria Gavrilova beat seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 and Kiki Bertens won 7-6 (3), 6-1 over Russia's Ekaterina Makarova.