Miami Open: Venus Williams outlasts Kiki Bertens to book Johanna Konta clash

Venus Williams of the United States celebrates match point against Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in their third round match during the Miami Open Presented by Itau at Crandon Park Tennis Center PicAFPThreetime winner Venus Williams saved three match points in a threeset victory over Kiki Bertens on Sunday lining up a fourthround clash with reigning champion Johanna Konta at the Miami Open Williams ranked eighth in the world labored nearly three hours to beat 29thranked Bertens 57 63 75The 37yearold American was cruising with a 50 lead in the opening set but she squandered three set points as Bertens reeled off seven straight games to snatch it The second set was another streaky affair but Williams gained a decisive break for a 53 lead and fought off a break point in the next game to force the decider The seventime Grand Slam champion would have to dig deep when she fell 14 down to her Dutch opponent in the thirdBertens served for the match at 53 but was unable to convert two match points as Williams broke to put the match back on serve Williams would face one more match point against her own serve in the next game but she held on as Bertens appeared to struggle with cramps in the final games Williams sealed the win with an emphatic forehand winner giving a little leap of elationIt didnt look good sometimes thats why you keep playing until the last point said Williams who lifted the trophy in Miami in 1998 1999 and 2001 And thats why I love this game Konta whose victory here last year propelled her into the top 10 in the world rankings advanced with relative ease beating Belgian Elise Mertens 62 61 Konta exchanged early breaks with Mertens but gained the upper hand with a break for 32 when the Belgian double faulted four times in one gameIt launched a streak of four straight games for Konta that gave the Briton the opening She powered through the second to reach the fourth round where the 26yearold will try to get past the last 16 of a tournament for the first time this seasonSvitolina Ostapenko advanceFourthseeded Elina Svitolina and sixthseeded Jelena Ostapenko the reigning French Open champion also advanced as did 2016 Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig Ukraines Svitolina beat Daria Gavrilova 46 60 61 her fourth straight win over the Australian In a match of tense rallies Svitolina finished with 28 winners and won 70 percent of her firstserve pointsSvitolina will battle for a quarterfinal berth against another Australian 21stseeded Ashleigh Barty who beat Croatias Petra Martic 64 63 Latvian Ostapenko defeated Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia 62 76 72 She led by a set and a break before Haddad Maia battled back to level the setOstapenko twice served to avoid a third set She fell behind 02 in the tiebreaker before winning seven straight points for the victory In the tiebreak I showed my great tennis and I won the match Ostapenko said Im really glad it happened that way She next faces ninthseeded Czech Petra Kvitova who rallied for a 36 62 64 victory over American qualifier Sofia Kenin Puerto Ricos Puig followed up her upset of secondseeded Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki with a 63 75 victory over Greeces Maria SakkariCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever