Venus out of Miami Open

Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro recovered from a first-set whitewash to beat three-time champion Venus Williams 0-6 6-1 7-5 and set up a Miami Open semi-final with German ninth seed Andrea Petkovic.

Williams dominated in the early stages against 12th seed Suarez Navarro, taking the first set 6-0 in less than half an hour.

 

Suarez Navarro fought back to win the first four games of the second set, taking it 6-1, before breaking Williams' serve to go 5-4 up in the decider only for Venus to break back straight away.

But the Spaniard then won the next two games to continue an impressive season that has seen her reach two other semi-finals and the last eight at Indian Wells for the first time.

"It was a crazy match, crazy first two sets," said Suarez Navarro. "Venus was unbelievable at the beginning. I started a bit nervous but even if you lose the first set you are still in the competition and I am happy with the way I came back."

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams said she had struggled to find consistency. "I just made a little too many errors and I was going for it the whole match," said the American 16th seed.

"Towards the end I just never found the happy medium between being aggressive and putting the ball in the court."

...SkySports