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Australian Open 2017: Venus Williams beats Mona Barthel to reach quarter-finals

Venus Williams

Venus Williams on Sunday swept aside Germany’s Mona Barthel to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the seventh time.

The 36 year-old seven-time Grand Slam champion won 6-3 7-5 in Melbourne.

Williams, the oldest player in the women’s singles, will now face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-3.

It has been 19 years since Venus Williams reached her first Australian Open quarter-final and 14 years since her one and only final when she lost to her sister Serena.

In recent years, she has had to cope with the autoimmune disorder Sjogren’s syndrome, but has managed to reach at least the last 16 at six of the last seven Grand Slams.

Barthel, ranked 118th in the world, had played Williams twice before but missed four months of tennis in 2015, because of chronic fatigue illness.

“I know what it’s like to be down on your luck, but she knows how to play tennis and she’s experienced.

“We’d played a couple of tough matches before, so today I expected to have some competition,” Williams said.

Williams, who took one hour and 36 minutes to beat Barthel, has yet to drop a set at this year’s Open.

“I’ve been blessed enough to do something that I love and I think this is my calling because I grew so tall that I can cover the court and hit it hard,” she said.

Williams finished runner-up behind her sister Serena in Melbourne in 2003.

Meanwhile, the world number one and defending champion, Angelique Kerber will play American Coco Vandeweghe later on Sunday.

The winner will face Spanish seventh seed Garbine Muguruza, who beat Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-2 6-3.

Muguruza is through to her first quarter-final in Melbourne

The Australia open 2017, which started on Jan. 16, is expected to end on Jan. 29.

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