Pendleton powers into semis

Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton advanced to the semi-finals of the women's sprint at the Track Cycling World Championships.

After successfully negotiating the early rounds, Pendleton met Virginie Cueff of France in the best-of-three quarter-final.

The first bout saw Pendleton come round Cueff on the final bend and win by a bike length.

The Briton led from the front in the second to win by a convincing margin once more and go through to the last four on Friday evening, where she will meet old adversary Anna Meares of Australia.

Defending champion Meares set a world record of 10.782 in qualifying to get a favourable draw with Pendleton clocking 11.076.

Pendleton's team-mate Jess Varnish, eighth quickest in qualifying in 11.090, was eliminated by Junhong Lin in the first round.