Venus wins marathon, Pliskova enters semis

SINGAPORE, October 25
Venus Williams produced a vintage display full of guts and determination to grind out a 7-5 6-7(3) 7-5 victory over Jelena Ostapenko at the WTA Finals on Tuesday to set up a White Group decider for a semifinals berth against Garbine Muguruza.
Williams and Ostapenko had both lost their opening ties on Sunday so were desperate for a victory to keep their future fate in the eight-woman event in their own hands and neither appeared willing to budge in a titanic three-hour and 13-minute slugfest.
In the end, the 37-year-old Williams emerged from a bruising encounter that featured 20 breaks of serve with a triumph built on her calmness at the key moments and ruthlessness when offered a chance to attack her opponent’s weak second serve.
If the first encounter of the day was a marathon, the second was a sprint as Czech third seed Karolina Pliskova swatted aside Muguruza 6-2 6-2 in just 62 minutes to advance to the last four as pool winner with two wins from as many ties.