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Top seed Venus Williams moved into the semi-finals at the Japan Open on Thursday after struggling through the first set, but second seed Sania Mirza's run in Tokyo came to an unexpected end.
On the men's side, the top four seeds - David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Richard Gasquet and Lleyton Hewitt - all advanced to the quarter-finals. Williams, the reigning Wimbledon champion who is heavily favoured to win here, lost her serve twice in the first set, but the six-time Grand Slam winner's experience helped her to a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 quarter-final win.
"I had some problems with my errors, which was frustrating," said the world number eight, who hit six double faults. "But she also is a really good competitor - she brings a lot of balls back and serves well - so I was definitely up against a competitive opponent who obviously has skills to win the match."
Molik, ranked 74th, came back from 1-3 and then 2-4 down to level the score each time before forcing a tie-breaker in the opening set. But the Australian hit her forehand wide twice on her serve to quickly fall behind 0-3 in the tie-breaker. Williams hit an easy forehand winner at the net on her first set point.
The two women stayed on serve in the second set until Molik hit a double fault to go down 3-4, sending Williams on the path to victory. Mirza, India's biggest tennis star, crashed out in the quarter-finals, surrendering to eighth seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy, 6-4, 6-4.
Mirza double-faulted in the seventh game of the second set to go down 3-4. She saved one match point in the ninth game, but Pennetta triumphed when Mirza sent a backhand return long.
"It's obviously not the most comfortable situation, because we are good friends, we practice together, we have the same coach, but we are professional enough to separate a friendship from playing tennis," said Mirza. "But of course you don't like to play a friend, you prefer to play someone you don't know.
"Obviously she was playing a very solid match, she wasn't making too many mistakes, she was going for it, but just on a few important points I didn't play as well as I did yesterday," added Mirza.
In the semi-finals on Friday, Williams will take on up-and-coming Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who defeated Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/3). Pennetta will face fifth seed Virginie Razzano of France, who coasted to an easy 6-2, 6-2 winner over her compatriot Camille Pin.
In the men's third round, Ferrer of Spain was a 6-1, 7-6 (7/0) winner over American Vincent Spadea, while Berdych of the Czech Republic outplayed 16th-seeded American Michael Russell 6-4, 6-2. Gasquet, the third seed from France, outclassed 2003 champion Rainer Schuettler of Germany, 6-2, 6-2, while 2001 champion and fourth seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia defeated Spain's Ivan Navarro, 7-5, 6-3.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007

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