Venus survives marathon match

Mar 27, 2018 06:00 am

Venus Williams fended off three match-points before outlasting Dutch 29th seed Kiki Bertens 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 in a three-hour marathon to reach the fourth round of tennis' Miami Open yesterday morning (Singapore time).

Ukrainian fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina, Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko and British defending champion Johanna Konta also won their third-round encounters.

Konta, the 11th seed, crushed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-2, 6-1 to set up a fourth-round meeting with the older Williams sister.

The tournament looked like losing yet another big name when Venus fell behind 4-1 in the third set on centre court at Crandon Park in south Florida.

However, she remained more poised on the big points and eventually won on serve when Bertens could only tap the ball back across the net, allowing the 37-year-old American to put away the winner. - REUTERS