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Serena reaches Bangalore quarterfinals

  • Story Highlights
  • Third seed Serena Williams reaches the quarterfinals of the Bangalore Open
  • The eight-time Grand Slam champion defeats Tzipora Obziler of Israel 7-5 6-0
  • Fifth seed Agnes Szavay and sixth seed Sybille Bammer both sent crashing
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BANGALORE, India -- Serena Williams has reached the quarterfinals of the Bangalore Open after an error-filled win over Tzipora Obziler of Israel on Wednesday.

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Serena reached the quarterfinals in Bangalore despite admitting she is not 100 per cent fit.

The eight-time Grand Slam champion, seeded third and given a bye in the first round, beat Obziler 7-5 6-0 in her first singles appearance on Indian soil.

"I am happy to be in India and playing because, to be frank, I am not feeling 100 per cent fit," said the world number 10.

"It took me time to settle down. I started making some errors and the balls were flying. She definitely gave a lot of pace, but she was not consistent and I did not get my rhythm."

Williams missed both the Paris and Antwerp Opens last month to undergo dental surgery.

Top seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and number two Venus Williams, who also got first round byes, will be in action on Thursday in India's richest tennis event.

Meanwhile, fourth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland survived a scare from Aiko Nakamura of Japan before advancing to the quarterfinals.

Schnyder dropped the first set on the tie-breaker, but recovered in time to take the next two sets at 6-4 6-2 in a two-hour battle.

However, two seeded players, number five Agnes Szavay of Hungary and number six Sybille Bammer of Austria, were knocked out in the second round.

Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan served 16 aces as she came from behind to defeat Szavay 4-6 7-6 6-4 in a match that lasted two hours and 30 minutes and now faces Schnyder for a place in the semifinals.

Anastasia Rodionova of Russia disposed of Bammer 7-6 6-2 and she now faces a showdown with Serena for a place in the last four. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

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