Venus Rolls on in Tokyo and Kerber Stuns Radwanska for Trip to Semis
Venus Williams reached the semifinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday after her 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 win in three-plus hours over Canadian Eugenie Bouchard. Venus and Bouchard had comparable unforced errors in the match, 35 for Williams and 34 for Bouchard, but their winners told the story—Venus had 43 in the match, Bouchard had 28. This is the first time Venus reached the semifinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open. Her previous best result was the quarterfinals in 2004.
"Wow, she played so well, she’s going to be a great player—she already is a great player," Venus said of Bouchard. "I was just competing out there today, just fighting until the end. It was disappointing to lose the second set, but to win the third set is the goal, so I’m happy I did that."
Venus will face Petra Kvitova, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Svetlana Kuznetsova. Venus and Kvitova are tied at one win apiece in two career matches.
Also today in Tokyo, it was the number six-seeded Angelique Kerber who scored an upset victory over the second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-4, 6-4 victory in 73 minutes. Up next for Kerber is the number four seed Caroline Wozniacki, who lost the first set to Lucie Safarova but came back for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory. Wozniacki and Kerber are tied in their head-to-head series, 3-3.
"Caroline moves very well and for sure it won’t be easy," said Kerber of her next-round opponent. "We’ve had some long matches in the past."
