Venus Williams plays Francesca Schiavone in the quarter-finals on day nine of the US Open.
You can bet live in-play on the US Open at bet365
Venus had a very easy draw through the first three rounds and many thought her lack of match practise would be exposed with her first serious test. However she proved those doubters wrong by taking out Shahar Peer reasonably comfortably in the end 7-6, 6-3 in the fourth round.
As far as quarter-final opponents go, Venus will be happy to be facing French Open champion Schiavone. The Italian has plenty of guile in her game and attempts things that most players on the WTA tour don't even begin to contemplate. However she is not renowned for her prowess on fast hard courts and had quite a few early losses over the summer.
Schiavone has to take plenty of credit for reaching this stage without dropping a set but she has not had the most taxing of draws. She was expected to be seriously challenged by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the last 16 but the young Russian's game just did not show up and she went down 6-3, 6-0.
Overall the feeling is that Schiavone has been dropping the ball far too short to test Venus on this surface. The former champion will not self-destruct like Pavlyuchenkova.
Venus has won all seven of their past matches, quite a confidence boosting record and has beaten the Italian twice in 2010 – 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 at the Aussie Open and 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in Madrid.
You can watch WTA Tour tennis live for free at bet365. To watch, simply follow these 3 simple steps:
1. Go to bet365 and sign-up or register (it's free)
2. Click on Sports > Live Streaming > Tennis
3. Watch WTA Tour tennis for free
