Both players had problems in the first set; neither could hold serve through the first six games. Williams was the first to find her game, holding for 4–3. This ended the stream of service breaks but not the errors; Williams hit 16 in the set, Pavlyuchenkova 17.
Pavlyuchenkova nearly gave away a game with a pair of double faults at 5–4; at 6–5, serving for the tie break, the Russian took Williams to several deuces before hitting a shot wide to lose the set.
After the first six games Williams improved steadily; she hit only six unforced errors on the final set, while adding three aces and nine winners to her tally. Pavlyuchenkova’s play went the other way, she served up six more double faults and 14 more errors on the way to a 7–5, 6–1 defeat
Williams will face the winner of the match between top seed Caroline Wozniacki and tenth-seeded Andrea Petkovic.
