TOKYO — Former world No. 1 Venus Williams turned back the clock with some brutal hitting to overcome Canada's Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 Thursday and reach the semifinals of the Pan Pacific Open. The 33-year-old American, who won the last of her seven Grand Slam singles titles in 2008, recovered from a poor second set tiebreak with a series of electrifying shots and acrobatic volleys in the decider, completing victory with another ferocious forehand cross-court after a shade over three hours. Venus' previous best in Tokyo was the quarterfinals in 2004. “She played so well,” Venus said. “She's going to be a great player — she's already a great player — and it was just a fight to the end.” Venus 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. The 19-year-old Bouchard put Venus on notice when she built a 3-1 lead in the quarterfinal. Venus fought back to break the teenager three times in the first meeting of their careers. In the second set, Bouchard capitalized on her second set point, winning the tiebreak 7-4. “I was just fighting until the end,” Venus said. Raonic, Simon in quarters In Thailand, Milos Raonic of Canada took only one of 16 break chances and still overcame Marinko Matosevic of Australia 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4 to open his account in the Thailand Open Thursday. After a first-round bye, Raonic had to dig deep in a 2-1/2-hour match featuring lengthy baseline rallies. The Canadian will Friday meet Feliciano Lopez a month after beating the sixth seeded Spaniard in the US Open third round. Gilles Simon of France, the 2009 champion and last year's runner-up, also reached the quarterfinals when he defeated Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-4, 7-5. The win was his 300th on the ATP tour, and sixth in a row following his title run in Metz last week. Also, Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan ousted eighth-seeded Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2 to be the last Asian in the draw, and fifth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia beat Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-3. Wawrinka eyes ATP Finals Second seed Stanislas Wawrinka is hoping the Malaysian Open will help him qualify for the year-end ATP World Tour Finals after clinching a quarterfinal place Thursday in Kuala Lumpur. The Swiss world No. 10 qualified for the quarterfinals Thursday when he defeated Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-1, 7-5 at Putra Stadium. Wawrinka will be up against sixth seed Dimitry Tursunov of Russia, who outclassed Spanish wildcard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 6-4 in the last second round fixture. World No. 26 Jurgen Melzer qualified for the quarterfinals when he outlasted Germany's Mischa Zverev 7-5, 6-4. His victory sets up a clash with Delbonis after the Argentinian reached the final eight by upsetting Canadian Vasek Posposil 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/1) Wednesday. Joining Melzer are Joao Sousa of Portugal and fifth seed Julien Benneteau of France. Sousa came back from a set down to defeat Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, while fifth seed Benneteau outplayed Spain's Pablo Andujar 7-6 (10/8), 6-2. Top seed David Ferrer qualified for the quarterfinals Wednesday when he defeated Matteo Viola 6-2, 6-3. — Agencies
