MELBOURNE, Australia — Venus Williams returned to the quarterfinals for the ninth time at the Australian Open, where she first made the last eight in her debut in 1998.

The 36-year-old, seven-time major winner had a 6-3, 7-5 fourth-round victory Sunday against No. 181-ranked Mona Barthel, who won three matches in qualifying, then beat two Australian wild cards and the Olympic gold medalist, Monica Puig, in the first three rounds.

Williams will next play No. 24-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-3, 6-3.

Pavlyuchenkova’s win over Kuznetsova, a fellow Russian, left Williams as the only Grand Slam winner remaining in that quarter of the draw.

“I was really challenged to play my best tennis,” Williams said. “It’s wonderful to get through to the quarterfinals against an opponent who’s on fire.”

Williams hasn’t advanced beyond the quarterfinals since a loss to her younger sister, Serena, in the 2003 final. But she hasn’t lost a set en route to the quarterfinals this year.


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