Serena Williams survived another scare to beat older sister Venus 3-6 6-3 6-4 and reach the quarter-finals at the inaugural Top Seed Open in Lexington.
Serena, who in her first-round match was five points from defeat against world number 60 Bernarda Pera, rallied from a set down and then a 4-2 deciding set deficit to defeat her sibling in an entertaining two hours and 19 minutes on Centre Court.
She said in her on-court interview afterwards: “I’ve lost a few tight sets lately, so I was telling myself I really wanted to win this one and try to focus on those last two games.
“I’m super relaxed. Having no crowd sort of makes things more relaxing. I’ve practised in louder places than this court.”
Serena won three games in a row to lead 5-4 in the decider and served out the match, claiming victory on her first match point.
The American will next face countrywoman Shelby Rogers, who defeated rising Canadian star Leylah Annie Fernandez 6-2 7-5, in the last eight of the competition.
Jil Teichmann is also through to the quarter finals in Lexington after overcoming number five seed Yulia Putintseva in straight sets.
The Swiss eased through 6-2 6-2 in just under an hour-and-a-half and will play Cici Bellis, who triumphed 6-3 6-2 over fellow American Jessica Pegula.
Simona Halep was made to work hard for her place in the quarter finals of the Prague Open as she came from a set down to defeat Barbora Krejcikova.
The number one seed was a break down in both the second and third sets before finally seeing off the wildcard 3-6 7-5 6-2 in two hours and five minutes.
Next up for Halep is lucky loser Magdalena Frech, who reached her maiden WTA quarter final with a three-set win of her own, the Pole overcoming Arantxa Rus 6-3 2-6 6-4.
Another wildcard Eugenie Bouchard battled her way through to the last eight with a marathon 7-6(2) 6-7(2) 6-2 triumph over Tamara Zidansek after just under three hours on court.
Irina-Camelia Begu's game against Leonie Kung was suspended with the Swiss a set up after taking the opener on a tie break.
