Third seed Venus Williams fought back from the brink of defeat to beat South African 10th seed Amanda Coetzer 2-6 6-1 8-6 today to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
Venus will now play three-times winner and last year's runner-up Martina Hingis in the semifinals.
Coetzer served for the match after breaking Williams to reach 5-3 in the third set, only for Williams to break her serve and then level the set.
The pair traded breaks again before Williams grabbed the crucial advantage in the 13th game.
"That third set was a killer," Williams said. "When I'm not having my best day Amanda is a tough player to play."
"When I'm on it doesn't matter who I'm playing, when I'm off it's tough to play someone like her."
Coetzer had raced through the first set in just 21 minutes, breaking a sluggish and error-prone Williams's serve twice and then served out the set to love. Williams did not win a point in the first two games and her major contribution to the first set was 19 unforced errors.
That trend was reversed in the second set, with Coetzer becoming tentative as if shocked to find herself in the lead and Williams getting her wayward groundstrokes under control.
Venus Williams, the reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion, had not made it past the quarter-finals in her two previous appearances at the season-opening grand slam event. - Reuters