Venus Williams survives scare in Brazil Cup

Florianpolis (Brazil): Former World No. 1 Venus Williams advanced to the quarterfinals of the WTA Brazil Tennis Cup with a hard-fought 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Spain`s Garbine Muguruza.

The 96th-ranked Muguruza survived three match points before succumbing to the seven-time grand slam winner after two hours and 12 minutes, Xinhua reports. Williams, currently ranked No. 20, will meet Slovakia`s Magdalena Rybarikova after the world No. 52 overcame Spain`s Beatriz Garcia Vidagany 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. In other second-round matches involving seeded players Wednesday, Timea Babos upset Channelle Scheepers 6-1, 6-2 and Kristina Mladenovic eliminated Tatjana Malek 6-2, 6-1. Melinda Czink beat Beatriz Haddad 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), Olga Puchkova overcame Caroline Garcia 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Monica Niculescuh swept aside Tereza Mrdeza 6-1, 6-1. IANS