ROME, May 18 — World number two Caroline Wozniacki needed three sets to battle past Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova to reach the final eight of the Italian Open yesterday.

Second seed Wozniacki won through 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 against 20th-ranked Sevastova to reach her first quarter-finals in Rome since 2011.

She next meets Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit who defeated Venus Williams for the second time in a week after Madrid.

Kontaveit, 22, won 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) against the 37-year-old American who was seeded eighth in a tournament she won nearly two decades ago in 1999. — AFP