Associated Press

Warsaw, April 29:

Venus Williams of the United States recovered from a sluggish start to beat Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 and advance to the quarter-finals of the $585,000 J&S Cup. Eighth-seeded Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi of Israel also advanced to the last eight, topping Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-4, 7-5.The second-seeded Williams made a positive start by breaking Zuluaga early to lead 2-0.

But she often struggled to put her first serve into play and a double-fault allowed Zuluaga to immediately break back.

In the first-round matches, Farina Elia defeated Denisa Chladkova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-1, Schnyder overwhelmed Elena Tatarkova of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4 and Schiavone outplayed Tina Pisnik of Slovenia 6-3, 6-0 and reached the second round. In other matches, Eleni Daniilidou of Greece set up a clash with top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo beating Gisela Dulko of Argentina 6-2, 6-2 and Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria beat Elena Likhovtseva of Russia 6-3, 6-1.