Seeded Williams advances at Rogers Cup

The last time Williams even lost a set to a player with a one-handed backhand was to Henin in the final of the Australian Open in 2010 (Williams would go on to win that match anyway, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2).

“Just another step…in the right direction”, Williams said.

You really wouldn’t know it: “I still think I have a tremendous amount of improvement to do off the ground and everywhere else”, she said.

“I started the match and I was hitting the balls very strong, and it was not a good idea playing against Radwanska because she knows how to blow the balls and how to make you run during the point”, Halep said.

Top-seed Serena Williams is her own harshest critic.

But Halep, runner-up at the French Open last year, did just enough to eliminate the 13th seed and advance to the quarter-finals against Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat France’s Alize Cornet 6-2 4-6 6-2.

Sabine Lisicki, the 2013 Wimbledon finalist, slumped to a 6-1 1-6 7-6 (7/3) defeat to Belinda Bencic, with the Swiss sealing victory after exactly two hours. She’s asked about Petkovic and says she can’t help but smile when she sees her. “I really like that girl, she’s so nice, Andrea’s so sweet”, Williams says.

Saturday, Halep faces Italy’s Sara Errani, who advanced to the semis with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko. I just felt off. Just gotta be more positive out there again.

Williams said she thought she served better on Thursday, but felt she was too negative on court. “It was awesome. They gave me power to just stay there, still fighting for the victory”.

Williams won titles in Toronto titles in 2001, 2011 and 2013. “More than anything, though, I think her serve was what kept her going really strong during the match tonight”.

In the evening doubles match, sixth seeds Errani and Flavia Pennetta of Italy dropped a 6-0, 7-6 (6) decision to No. 3 Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.