Williams sisters win to set up clash
SERENA Williams and sister Venus won at the BNP Paribas Open to set up a third-round clash in the desert tournament.
Serena got by No.29 seed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the second round on Saturday in her return from a 14-month absence after giving birth to her first child. Venus preceded her younger sister on the stadium court and beat Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3, 6-4.
The sisters will resume their longtime rivalry today. Serena leads Venus 17-11 all-time and has won eight of their last nine meetings, most recently the Australian Open final last year.
It will be their earliest meeting since the sisters’ first match in the series, a straight-sets victory by Venus in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open.
“Obviously, I wish it was anybody else in the draw, literally anybody, but that’s OK,” Serena said. “Just have to go out there and see how I am and do my best.”
Roger Federer led Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-3, 2-2 when their match was delayed by a heavy drizzle 56 minutes after it began.
Wildcard Danielle Collins defeated US Open finalist Madison Keys 6-3, 7-6 (1) to continue a string of upsets.
Keys hasn’t made it past the fourth round at Indian Wells in eight tries. The No.15 seed was mistake-prone throughout the second-round match, committing five unforced errors in the tiebreaker.