Crowd favourite Venus Williams overcame a slow start on Wednesday to rack up another comfortable victory and reach the last eight of the ASB Classic tennis tournament.

The third-seeded American eased past Japan’s Kurumi Nara 6-4 6-1 in Auckland to set up a quarter-final meeting with Russian Elena Vesnina.

After a tight opening set in which both players had problems holding serve, the 34-year-old Williams found her rhythm in the second, reeling off the last six games.

“I think I just got my bearings a little bit,” she said.

“Also, I haven’t played her so often so I just had to understand her game a little a bit.”

The seven-time grand slam champion also gave credit to an opponent over whom she had a distinct height advantage.

“She’s tenacious and she understands how to construct points,” she said.

“It was definitely a good match to have under the belt early in the year.”

Even so, the contest took just 65 minutes, meaning Williams, runner-up in Auckland 12 months ago, has been on court for less than two hours over the first two rounds this week.

Earlier on Wednesday, Vesnina raced through her clash with Croatia’s Ana Konjuh to be the first player to book a spot in the last eight.

The Russian, a regular visitor to Auckland and a finalist six years ago, was always in control against her 17-year-old opponent to win 6-3 6-1.

Vesnina has a 2-1 head-to-head advantage over Williams, who prevailed in the pair’s last meeting, in Dubai last February, on the way to winning the tournament.

Their first encounter came in the opening round at Wimbledon in 2012, and the 28-year Vesnina described her 6-1 6-3 win then as still the highlight of her career.

“It’s going to be a difficult match for me and I’m just looking forward to it because she’s a legend,” she said.

Sixth seed CoCo Vandeweghe had a tougher time getting past Belgian’s Kirsten Flipkens 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 7-5.

The American looked headed for a straightforward victory during the second set before Flipkens, a semi-finalist last summer, mounted a fightback.