Venus Cruises Past Hantuchova

Tenth-seeded Venus Williams of the United Stated, using her power game, blew past sixth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, 6-0, 6-3, to advance to Friday’s Acura Classic quarterfinals.

On a cool and slightly breezy night at the La Costa Resort and Spa, Williams held serve to open the match before a large crowd on Stadium Court.

Despite serving three aces, Hantuchova dropped serve after an 18-point game to fall behind 2-0. Williams would reel off the next four games to win the set in exactly 30 minutes.

In the second set, Hantuchova took a 2-1 lead, her first of the match, when she broke Williams’ serve for the only time.

Williams broke back in the very next game and would later take a 5-2 lead. Hantuchova held serve in the eighth game to stay in the match, but Williams, serving at 5-3 recovered from 15-40 and held serve to win the match, which took 1 hour and 19 minutes to complete.

• Williams advances to a quarterfinal match against Anna Chakvetadze.
• Williams is ranked 16 in the world.
• Williams improves her 2007 match record to 33-6.
• Williams now leads Hantuchova 9-0 in career head-to-head meetings.
• Williams is making her eighth career Acura Classic appearance. She won titles in 2000, 2001, 2002.
• Williams has represented the U.S. in the Olympics and Fed Cup.
•  Hantuchova is ranked 10th in the world.
• Hantuchova reached the quarterfinals of the 2003 Australian Open.
• Hantuchova was making her sixth career Acura Classic appearance.

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