Venus Reaches Zhuhai Semifinals

November 5, 2015 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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Credit photo: Brian Coleman

Venus Williams once again battled back at the Elite Trophy tournament in Zhuhai on Thursday, this time downing China’s top player Zheng Saisai 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 to move into the tournament’s semifinals.

The 35-year-old American fell into a deep hole right from the start, as Zheng opened up a 5-1 advantage in the first set. And even after Venus cut the deficit to 4-5, Zheng wrapped up the set on her own serve.

But Venus, just like she did in her first match against fellow American Madison Keys, stormed back. She won 12 of the final 14 games, cruising through the final two sets to beat Zheng and reach the semifinals.

“You could see that she played amazing and she really is a future champion,” said Venus. “The first set, wow, she played so well until the last point. She definitely deserved to get the wildcard into this tournament—she has a lot of talent and there are definitely great things for her in the future.”

The win moves Venus into her fifth semifinal of the year.

Karolina Pliskova also moved into the Zhuhai semifinals on Thursday, blowing past Sara Errani 6-0, 6-3.

“I’m really happy with how I played today,” said Pliskova. “I think it was a good match from the first point to the last. In the end, it was a little bit tricky, but she had nothing to lose so she started to be a little bit more aggressive. I’m happy that I held my serve in the end and that I won a match like this.”

Svetlana Kuznetsova kept her hopes alive of reaching the semifinals as she led Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 2-2 before the Dane was forced to retire from their round-robin match. 


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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