Venus Williams advances to quarterfinals of Hong Kong Open by beating Wang Yafan 6 0, 6 2

HONG KONG (AP)_ Venus Williams advanced to the quarterfinals of the Hong Kong Open by beating Wang Yafan of China 6-0, 6-2 Thursday.

The 35-year-old Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, won the Wuhan Open this month. Another win this week would bring her closer to qualifying for the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore.

“She is young and will learn,” Williams said of the 21-year-old Wang. “She will find out that at this level the ball comes back faster and this is something she will have to cope with.”

Williams will next play eighth-seeded Alize Cornet of France, who defeated Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4.

Also, seventh-seeded Caroline Garcia of France beat Anastasiya Komardina of Russia 6-0, 6-2, and second-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany defeated Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-2, 6-2.