Venus Powers Way Into Coupe Banque Nationale Quarterfinals

Venus Williams cruised into the quarterfinals of the Coupe Banque Nationale on Thursday night, knocking off Ukrainian Olga Savchuck 6-1, 6-2 to reach the final eight.

“Everything worked so well today,” said Williams. “When my first serve is going in that helps a lot. I was able to play so offensively off the first serve. Even though I lost serve a couple of times, it wasn’t really from the serve, it was from the groundstrokes. It feels good to play like this going into the quarters.”

Williams dropped serve in the opening game of the match, but rattled off 10 straight games after that to build a sizeable 6-1, 4-0 lead. She would drop the next two games, but won the final two to wrap up the straight set victory in just 48 minutes.

“I feel like I knew her game a little bit too, because I played her twice this summer already in doubles,” added Williams. “So I knew what kind of shot she likes and that kind of gave me a head start out there tonight.”

The match was played in front of a record crowd at the Couple Banque Nationale in Quebec City, Canada, as 2,625 people filled the seats to take in the contest. The crowd surpassed the previous best of 2,615 which was set during a quarterfinal match last year between Eugenie Bouchard of Canada and Kristina Mladenovic.

Up next for the top-seeded Williams is Lucie Hradecka. The Czech knocked off her compatriot Barbora Krejcikova 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to push her way into the quarterfinals.

“We haven’t played each other in singles, but we’ve played a lot of really important doubles matches—Olympic finals, Wimbledon finals,” said Williams of her next opponent. “She’s quite talented. She hits the ball hard, serves big. I expect her to come out really loosely against me, so I have to be ready for that.”

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni also reached the quarterfinals on Thursday as she fought off a 5-2 first deficit to beat eighth-seeded Timea Babos 7-6(3), 6-2. The 32-year old Croat plays Bulgaria’s Sesil Karatancheva for a spot in the final four.

The quarterfinal matches will get underway today from Quebec City, as American Shelby Rogers will be in action seeking entry into the semifinals. The fourth-seeded Rogers will take on Germany’s Tatjana Maria.