Serena Williams has navigated her passage into the quarter-finals of the China Open courtesy of a three-set victory over Lucie Safarova.
The top seed, who retired from the Wuhan Open last week due to dizziness, came out on top 6-1 1-6 6-2 this afternoon to advance in Beijing.
Williams earned two breaks of serve in a straightforward opening set which was wrapped up inside 25 minutes, although the second set proved far more difficult for the American.
Having lost serve on two occasions, the world number one struggled to keep up with her opponent, with Safarova soon levelling the match up.
The third set went the way of the books, though, as Williams recovered from that minor setback to earn two breaks of serve to make sure of her place in the next round.
Alize Cornet or Samantha Stosur await in the quarters.
Daniel Lewis
