Montreal—World number one Simona Halep crushed seven time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams in straight sets on Thursday at the WTA Montreal event just hours after a delivering a marathon three-hour victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Top seed Halep took no prisoners against Williams, blitzing the 38-year-old American 6-2, 6-2 in just 71 minutes to reach the quarter-finals.
Halep’s match against Pavlyuchenkova was originally scheduled for Wednesday night but heavy rains forced organizers to postpone it until Thursday morning.
The Romanian needed three grueling sets to oust the world No. 28 Russian but had a much easier time against veteran Williams who has yet to win a title in 2018.
Williams has struggled with her form this year and hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since Wimbledon in 2008 when she beat sister Serena in the final.
“It’s never easy to play either of the Williams sisters, and even though she was struggling, I knew I had to be focused on every ball, and stay focused until the end,” Halep said.
“She wasn’t feeling great on the court and it definitely wasn’t her best day. And I’m happy to be the quarter-finals now.”
The reigning French Open champion started quickly, winning the first two games en route to taking the opening set.
She also jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set and after a slight lull in the middle, she rebounded to run away with the final four games.
Halep won 77 percent of her first serve points and broke Williams’ serve five times.
Halep next faces number six seed Caroline Garcia, who overwhelmed former World No.1 Maria Sharapova hours earlier.
Halep and Garcia met in the quarter-finals of this event last year when it was held in Toronto with Halep coming out the winner 6-4, 6-2.
Halep leads Garcia in their career head-to-head 4-1 as Garcia’s only career win over Halep was a 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) victory in the final of the WTA Beijing tournament in October.
Williams also has to play twice in one day after Wednesday’s rain-lashed programme.
The veteran 13th-seeded American moved into a clash against Halep with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 victory against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.
Williams won despite committing 30 unforced errors and seven double faults.
Aryna Sabalenka staged one of the biggest wins of her career, saving three match points en route to a 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) upset of second seed Caroline Wozniacki.
The 20-year-old saved three match points at 3-5 in the third set — winning a backhand rally on the first, acing Wozniacki on the second, and crushing a winner that was set up by a big serve on the third.