Venus Williams survives scare in Brazil Cup

Florianpolis (Brazil), Feb 28 (IANS)

Former World No. 1 Venus Williams advanced to the quarter-finals of the WTA Brazil Tennis Cup with a hard-fought 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.

The 96th-ranked Muguruza survived three match points before succumbing to the seven-time Grand Slam winner after two hours and 12 minutes, Xinhua reports.

Williams, currently ranked No. 20, will meet Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova after the World No. 52 overcame Spain’s Beatriz Garcia Vidagany 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

In other second-round matches involving seeded players on Wednesday, Timea Babos upset Channelle Scheepers 6-1, 6-2 and Kristina Mladenovic eliminated Tatjana Malek 6-2, 6-1.

Melinda Czink beat Beatriz Haddad 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), Olga Puchkova overcame Caroline Garcia 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Monica Niculescuh swept aside Tereza Mrdeza 6-1, 6-1.