Serena sets up Indian Wells showdown with sister Venus

SERENA Williams set up a mouth-watering Indian Wells third-round showdown against her sister Venus with a straight-sets victory over Kiki Bertens on Saturday.

Venus and Serena have faced each other 28 times in their legendary careers and they are now meeting in Serena’s first tournament back on the WTA Tour since she beat Venus 6-4 6-4 in last year’s Australian Open final.

“[We are] having to play each other in the third round, one of us is going to be gone,” Serena said.

“I would prefer to play someone else, anybody else, literally anybody else, but it has to happen now. So it is what it is.”

Serena, who lifted her 23rd grand slam title in Melbourne last year, was then already pregnant with daughter Alexis Olympia, who was born in September.

Venus did her part to set up the marquee match when she dismantled world No 35 Sorana Cirstea 6-3 6-4.

Serena then took centre stage, needing just under two hours to dispatch Bertens, of the Netherlands, 7-6 (7/5) 7-5.

“I mean, she looked like she never lost a step,” Venus said of her younger sister. “Great way to come back.”

Serena, 36, and vying to become the first woman to win three Indian Wells titles, clinched the victory against Bertens on her second match point when Bertens blasted a forehand wide.

Still showing some rust from her long layoff, Serena hit just one ace and made 37 unforced errors to 32 for Bertens.

She takes a career head-to-head record over Venus of 17-11 into their clash.

They met for the first time in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open which Venus won 7-6 (7/4) 6-1.

This is the earliest they will face each other since that Melbourne meeting.

Serena, unseeded in the wake of her long layoff, admitted she would have preferred not to come up against her sister so soon in the draw.

“It’s a huge difference to play her in the semifinals or even the quarterfinals or a final as opposed to the third round. You know, we can always stay in the tournament longer if the both of us are in the tournament,” Serena said.

In 2001, they were slated to meet in the Indian Wells semifinals when Venus withdrew, handing Serena a walkover.

Fans who felt cheated of a chance to see the siblings play, thinking it was a tactic orchestrated by their father Richard, booed Serena during her final triumph against Kim Clijsters.

The crowd’s treatment led to a 14-year boycott by the sisters, which Serena finally ended in 2015.