Australia’s Ashleigh Barty has recorded the biggest win of her singles career, eliminating ninth seed Venus Williams from the Cincinnati Open.

It was Barty’s first-ever win over a top 10 player.

The seven-time grand slam winner, who lost the Australian Open final to sister Serena in January, fought back after losing the opening set to take the second but ultimately lost 6-3 2-6 6-2.

Barty will face either either Elina Vesnina or former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki for a place in the quarter-finals.

Her Fed Cup teammate Daria Gavrilova’s Cincinnati tilt is over after the 23-year-old fell in three sets to Italy’s Camila Giorgi.

Gavrilova, who upset 13th seed Kristina Mladenovic in the first round after blowing her off court in the opening set, fought back after losing a first-set tiebreaker but lost 7-6 (7-1) 5-7 6-3.

Elsewhere on Wednesday 15th seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia beat Giorgi’s compatriot Robert Vinci in straight sets while Madison Keys was too good for Russia’s Daria Kasatkina.

Keys, a right-hander who withdrew from last week’s Rogers Cup in Toronto with a left forearm injury, will next meet fourth-seeded Garbine Muguruza, the Wimbledon champion.

“I definitely thought I played really well,” Keys said. “I don’t know if I was the zone, press, but everything was going well. It was falling into place, and I didn’t have to rush anything.”

Keys was happiest about finishing quickly in the humid conditions.

“I definitely didn’t want to be out there a long time,” she said. “I wasn’t out there that long, but I was still drenched. I was happy to get back inside into the air conditioning.”

Eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, also of Russia, beat Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 6-3 6-4 while Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro was also victorious.