Venus outlasts Bertens to book Konta clash
MIAMI – Agence France-Presse
Three-time winner Venus Williams saved three match points in a three-set victory over Kiki Bertens on March 25, lining up a fourth-round clash with reigning champion Johanna Konta at the Miami Open.
Williams, ranked eighth in the world, labored nearly three hours to beat 29th-ranked Bertens 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.
Konta, whose victory here last year propelled her into the top 10 in the world rankings, advanced with relative ease, beating Belgian Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-1.
Fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina and sixth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko, the reigning French Open champion, also advanced, as did 2016 Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig.Ukraine’s Svitolina beat Daria Gavrilova 4-6, 6-0, 6-1, her fourth straight win over the Australian.
In a match of tense rallies Svitolina finished with 28 winners and won 70 percent of her first-serve points.Svitolina will battle for a quarterfinal berth against another Australian, 21st-seeded Ashleigh Barty, who beat Croatia’s Petra Martic 6-4, 6-3.Puerto Rico’s Puig followed up her upset of second-seeded Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Greece’s Maria Sakkari.
