Bouchard overcomes Venus

Rising Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard booked her place in the quarterfinals of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston on Thursday with a 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 6-4 victory over former world number one Venus Williams.

Sixth seed Bouchard, an unabashed fan of Williams as she came up through the junior ranks, broke her opponent's serve twice in the final set to claim her first win against the 33-year-old American.

"Every time I walk on the court, I believe I can win, and I think I believed more this time than probably the last time I played her," the 20-year-old Bouchard, beaten by Williams in three sets in their only previous meeting, told reporters.

"It's always an opportunity for me to play someone I've watched on TV when I was younger and someone who's been No 1 and such a great player.

"So I always expect great tennis because she's still playing at a great level, and she was at an amazing level."

Next up for Bouchard in the last eight is Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, the second seed and 2007 champion, who shrugged off a close opening set to beat Croatia's Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 6-1.

In other matches on Thursday, Germany's 2009 champion Sabine Lisicki, the fourth seed, was knocked out by compatriot Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 6-0, while Swiss qualifier Belinda Bencic fought back to beat Ukrainian teenager Elina Svitolina 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-1.

Third-seeded Italian Sara Errani scraped past China's Peng Shuai 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5), Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova brushed aside Brazil's Teliana Pereira 6-2, 6-3 and Jana Cepelova, also of Slovakia, fended off Russian Elena Vesnina 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3.