Serena Williams knocks out Knapp, advances in Cincinnati Masters

MASON, Ohio – Serena Williams moved on to the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open, losing only two games in her lopsided match. She's the tournament's defending champion.

Williams needed only 54 minutes to beat Karin Knapp 6-0, 6-2. She lost just 12 points while winning the first nine games.

Williams, the defending Cincinnati champion, is using the tournament as a final tuneup for the US Open, where she'll try to complete a calendar Grand Slam sweep. Her quarterfinals opponent is Ana Ivanovic, who beat Sloane Stephens 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Williams beat Ivanovic in straight sets to win her first Cincinnati title last year.

"It will be a really good match for me and kind of test where I am, you know, just in general," Williams said. "Yeah, so I look forward to that."

A right forearm injury forced Swiss teen Belinda Bencic to withdraw after she dropped the first set against seventh-seeded Lucie Safarova. The 12th-seeded Bencic said she didn't think the injury was very serious, but it was too soon to know if she could play in next week's tournament at New Haven, Connecticut. The 18-year-old said her forearm has been sore for some time.

"Every match, it was getting tighter and tighter," she said. "I was hoping that a lot of (therapy) would help, but I couldn't do it."

Bencic was coming off the biggest moment of her brief career. She upset Williams in the semifinals at Toronto last week and went on to win the tournament.

Victoria Azarenka became the fourth woman to withdraw from the tournament when she had to quit her evening match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Azarenka hurt her upper left leg a few days before the tournament started, and it bothered her as she won the first set 6-1. She quit three games into the second set.

"Such a short period of time before the US Open, it's a little bit dangerous," she said. "I had to unfortunately make that decision. It hurts a little bit because I have been playing so well. Obviously I felt like I had that match in control."

(Sources from Philstar.com and Philippinemavericks.com)