Halep dominates Venus in Miami

Miami - Simona Halep got the better of Venus Williams once again as the Romanian made light work of the 38-year-old American to book a place in the Miami Open quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph.

Halep, the highest seed left following Naomi Osaka's exit on Saturday, has now won her last four meetings with Williams, their previous encounter before clashing at Hard Rock Stadium coming earlier this year at the Australian Open.

The world number three and number two seed for the tournament triumphed in straight sets in Melbourne and it was more of the same in Miami as the world number 43 was overpowered by Halep.

At the culmination of the first set, Williams had won just 52% of points on her first serve and hit only four winners to Halep's 20 - the Romanian finished with 30 compared to 13 from Williams and won 75% on her own first serve.

"I'm really happy with my game and the numbers back that up," said a delighted Halep on court afterwards.

"She never gives up, she fights for every ball so I tried to keep her close to the baseline."

Williams' serve deserted her in a first set which saw the reigning French Open champion establish an early 3-0 lead and although the American responded with her own break soon after, she was unable to back it up.

Halep's best performance in South Florida came in 2015 when she was runner-up to Serena Williams, and with China's Wang Yafan or Wang Qiang waiting in the last eight, the 27-year-old will fancy her chances of another run to Saturday's final.

Hsieh Su-Wei, meanwhile, continued her excellent form with a 6-3, 6-7 (0/7) 6-2 win over Caroline Wozniacki and will play Anett Kontaveit after Canada's Bianca Andreescu retired with a shoulder injury in the second set.

Results on Monday from the Miami Open WTA/ATP Masters hardcourt tournament (x-denotes seeds):

Men

Third round

Kevin Anderson (RSA x6) bt Joao Sousa (POR) 6-4, 7-6 (8/6)

Jordan Thompson (AUS) bt Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x24) 7-5, 7-5

Daniil Medvedev (RUS x13) bt Reilly Opelka (USA) 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/0)

Roger Federer (SUI x4) bt Filip Krajinovic (SRB) 7-5, 6-3

Denis Shapovalov (CAN x20) bt Andrey Rublev (RUS) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5)

David Goffin (BEL x18) bt Marco Cecchinato (ITA x14) 6-4, 6-4

Women

Fourth round

Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE x27) bt Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x13) 6-3, 6-7 (0/7), 6-2

Anett Kontaveit (EST x21) bt Bianca Andreescu (CAN) 6-1, 2-0 (ret)

Petra Kvitova (CZE x3) bt Caroline Garcia (FRA x19) 6-3, 6-3

Ashleigh Barty (AUS x12) bt Kiki Bertens (NED x7) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Simona Halep (ROM x2) bt Venus Williams (USA) 6-3, 6-3

Wang Qiang (CHN) bt Wang Yafan (CHN) 7-5, 6-4