Kuznetsova smashes Venus Williams' dream of Wuhan Open title defense

Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia brought Venus Williams' title defence to an abrupt end at the WTA Wuhan Open on Wednesday with a dominant victory in their eagerly anticipated third-round showdown.

Five breaks helped Kuznetsova stroll to a 6-2, 6-2 win over the American and a quarterfinal against either Agnieszka Radwanska or Caroline Wozniacki.

"It was a good match. I don't think Venus played her best game. But I've been confident and I've been playing well," said the ninth-seeded Russian.

Talking about her next opponent, Kuznetsova said: "Quarter is never easy against any player because they each reached the fourth round through hard fights. Aga is a great opponent. We played many times. The same as with Caroline. Both of them, they're playing great right now. Caroline winning Tokyo and playing semis of US Open. I would love to take a chance and try to get revenge for that."

Kuznetsova is now ranked 10th and has a good chance to reach the WTA Finals Singapore as she just knocked out seventh ranked Williams and eighth ranked Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain was eliminated by Britain's Johanna Konta 7-5, 7-6(6) in the third round.

"I've been struggling with my ranking. I was 20, 25 for the past years. This year it went up quite good for me. Now the possibility to be in Singapore definitely makes me feel better, gives me more motivation as well."

After the early exit, Williams will next move to Beijing for next week's China Open.

"I think she (Kuznetsova) just played well. Not every day is your day. Hopefully I'll be able to come back next year and play amazing tennis," said the sixth-seeded Williams.

"It just definitely wasn't the best day on the court for me. Like I said, she played really well. Total credit to her. I'm just going to go to Beijing and try to play well there." Endit