TOKYO (AP) Venus Williams beat Canadian teen Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 to advance to the Pan Pacific Open semifinals for the first time on Thursday.
Williams, whose previous best in Tokyo was the quarterfinals in 2004, broke Bouchard with a forehand down the line to go up 5-2 in the third set and held on to win the match that lasted three hours at Ariake Colosseum.
"She played so well," Williams said. "She's going to be a great player she's already a great player and it was just a fight to the end."
Williams will face Petra Kvitova in the semis. The seventh-seeded Czech beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-1.
Also, fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki beat Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to set up a semifinal with fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany, who ousted second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 6-4. Wozniacki and Kerber are 3-3 head to head. Wozniacki won their semifinal at Indian Wells in March.