Venus eclipses sister Serena

VENUS Williams has beaten her sister Serena for the first time in four years, reaching the fourth round of the Indian Wells Masters 6-3, 6-4.

Venus finished off the 36minute opening set with backto-back aces and broke early in the second set against her sibling, who is playing her first WTA event since giving birth in September.

There was a slight hiccup as Venus was broken while serving for victory, with Serena saving a match point to stay alive. But Venus finally put a lid on the night two games later after 1¾ hours.

“It’s never over until it’s over,” Venus said. “Serena came roaring back. I’m just lucky that right now I’ve played more matches then her.

“Serena played so well, it was a treat for everyone to see this match so early in her comeback.”

Serena’s last official event was the 2017 Australian Open, which she won while two months’ pregnant with her daughter.

The victory for 37-year-old Venus was the 12th in 29 faceoffs. Serena is now unranked after leaving the Tour for more than a year during her pregnancy and early motherhood.

Meanwhile, French seventh seed Carolina Garcia knocked out Australian Daria Gavrilova 7-5, 6-4, coming from 4-2 down in the opening set.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki came from two breaks down in the second set as she beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in a struggle lasting 2¼ hours.