Williams moves into the quarters

Venus Williams kept the defence of her Abierto Mexicano Telcel tournament title on track with a win over Kaia Kanepi.

The former world number one was made to sweat by her Estonian rival who twice broke her in the opening set, but struggled on her own serve and was broken to concede the opener.

Kanepi then immediately broke Williams, but the American overpowered her to reach the last eight.

It was a good day for the top seeds with Agnes Szavay (second), Gisela Dulko (third) and Carla Suarez Navarro (fifth) all progressing to the quarter-finals.

Hungarian Szavay was too strong for Renata Voracova 7-5 6-1 while Dulko won by the same scoreline against Barbora Zahlavova Strycov.

Spain's Suarez Navarro was taken the distance by Catalina Castano 6-1 4-6 6-2 in a match that lasted two hours and 14 minutes.

Eighth seed Polona Hercog reached the last eight with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Alize Cornet.

Spanish qualifier Laura Pous Tio caused the biggest upset of the day when she beat seventh seed Roberta Vinci 6-3 6-2.

Sixth seed Sara Errani followed her fellow Italian out of the tournament at the hands of Edina Gallouitis 6-4 5-7 6-4.

Canada's Sharon Finschman, who beat fourth seed Sorana Cirstea in the opening round, continued her impressive run with a 6-2 6-3 win over Mariya Kuryttseva.

Red hot Venus rolls on

Venus Williams continued her good form with a 6-2 6-3 win over Mathilde Johansson at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel tournament.

The top seed is fresh from her hard-court title at Dubai last weekend and had few problems with her Swedish opponent on the clay in Mexico.

"It was a really good first match," Williams said.

"I was just trying to get my rhythm on the clay and make the transition."

Third seed Gisela Dulko overcame a mid-match slump to defeat Lucie Hradecka 6-1 2-6 6-2 while fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro did not drop a game in coasting past Hungary's Greta Arn 6-0 6-0.

Roberta Vinci, the seventh seed, made it a good day for the seeded players as she rallied from a set down to beat Arantxa Parra Santonja 2-6 6-3 6-4.

Qualifiers Laura Pous Tio and Catalina Castano both progressed after they recorded surprise wins of Patricia Mayr and Klara Zakopalova respectively.

Elsewhere, there were first-round victories for Kaia Kanepi, Mariya Koryttseva and Edina Gallovits.