Wozniacki is set to retire after the Australian
Open later this month and Williams said she wanted to partner
the Dane before she hung up her racket.
"I had to play with her before she retires," the 38-year-old
Williams said after the win saw the unseeded pair advance to the
quarter-finals, where they could face the top seeds Caroline
Dolehide and Johanna Larsson.
The Japanese duo struggled to deal with Williams' powerful serve
in the opening stages before they got the measure of the
American veteran to break her once.
But Williams and Wozniacki, who looked relaxed throughout the
match and even found the time to joke with each other, continued
to press in the second set and wrapped up the match in 71
minutes.
Williams and Wozniacki begin their singles campaigns at Auckland
on Tuesday.
In Monday's singles matches, French eighth seed Caroline Garcia
rallied to beat American Taylor Townsend 5-7 6-3 7-5 in a match
that lasted over two-and-a-half hours.
American teenager Coco Gauff, the youngest player in the draw at
15, saw off the challenge of last year's semi-finalist Viktoria
Kuzmova to advance with an impressive 6-3 6-1 victory in 61
minutes.
Sixth seed Rebecca Peterson fell to Slovenia's Tamara Zidansek
7-6(7) 7-6(5).
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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