Venus Williams reaches semifinals in Taiwan

Top-seeded Venus Williams beat Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 7-5, 6-2 on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Taiwan Open in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The American overcame a slow start in the quarterfinal match, rallying from 5-2 down in the first set and breaking Sevastova three more times.

"I didn't think about the set points, I just tried to not lose the set," Williams said. "But she was playing really well and was very determined so it wasn't easy to play her.

"From there, I think the experience really helped me and there was a lot of pressure on her. I just tried to do whatever was winning. If it's not working you change it -- so that's the strategy."

Williams will meet No.3 seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. Putintseva won the first set 6-3 against Stefanie Voegele and then the Swiss retired because of injury.

Local favorite and sixth-seeded Hsieh Su-Wei easily beat Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia 6-0, 6-2 and will face Japan's Misaki Doi.

ST. PETERSBURG OPEN

Ana Ivanovic of Serbia moved into the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Ladies Open in Russia with a 6-1, 7-5 win over qualifier Kateryna Kozlova.

Ivanovic reeled off five straight games against her Russian opponent to win the opening set.

Ivanovic will face Roberta Vinci of Italy, who beat Timea Babos of Hungary 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (4) in the quarterfinals.