Miami: Simona Halep got the better of Venus Williams once again as the Romanian made light work of the 38-year-old American to book a place in the Miami Open quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-3 triumph on Monday.
Halep, the highest seed left following Naomi Osaka’s exit on Saturday, has now won her last four meetings with Venus, their previous encounter before clashing at Hard Rock Stadium coming earlier this year at the Australian Open.
The world number three and number two seed for the tournament triumphed in straight sets in Melbourne and it was more of the same in Miami as the world number 43 was overpowered by Halep.
At the culmination of the first set, Williams had won just 52% of points on her first serve and hit only four winners to Halep’s 20 – the Romanian finished with 30 compared to 13 from Venus and won 75% on her own first serve. Venus’ serve deserted her in a first set which saw the reigning French Open champion establish an early 3-0 lead and although the American responded with her own break soon after, she was unable to back it up.
Halep’s best performance in South Florida came in 2015 when she was runner-up to Serena Williams, and with China’s Wang Yafan or Wang Qiang waiting in the last eight, the 27-year-old will fancy her chances of another run to Saturday’s final.
Form
Hsieh Su-Wei, meanwhile, continued her excellent form with a 6-3, 6-7 (0/7) 6-2 win over Caroline Wozniacki and will play Anett Kontaveit after Canada’s Bianca Andreescu retired with a shoulder injury in the second set.
Bianca Andreescu’s remarkable run of form was brought to an end by injury when the Canadian teenager retired with a shoulder problem while trailing 6-1 2-0 in her fourth-round clash with Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit.
The 18-year-old arrived in Miami fresh off her triumph at Indian Wells, where she became the first wild card to win the prestigious event, but an overworked right shoulder ended any hopes of extending her 10-match winning streak.
Up next for Kontaveit in the last eight will be Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei, who took down former world number one Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-7(0) 6-2 two days after beating the current occupier of that position, Osaka.