Halep, Venus enter quarters

Indian Wells, March 14: Venus Williams defeated Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 7- 6 ( 8), 6- 4 to reach the quarter- finals of the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday as the oldest woman in the draw.

The 37- year- old American was coming off a straight- set victory over younger sister Serena a night earlier, ending a three- match skid against her sibling.

Playing under cloudy skies in 80- degree heat, Williams had her hands full with Sevastova, who used drop shots, top spin, lobs and jerked her 10years- older opponent side to side.

After early losses in her first two tournaments of the year, Williams hasn’t dropped a set at Indian Wells, where she has yet to reach the final in six previous appearances.

Awaiting Williams in the quarter- finals is 27th- seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain, who beat American wild card Danielle Collins 6- 2, 6- 4.

Simona Halep is on track to retain her no. 1 world ranking after defeating Wang Qiang of China 7- 5, 6- 1 in the fourth round.

Halep is the only former Indian Wells winner left in the women’s draw after world no. 20 Daria

Kasatkina upset no. 2 Caroline Wozniacki. The scoreline read 6- 4, 7- 5.

Meanwhile, Wozniacki blew a 3- 0 lead in the first set and was on the run most of the match before losing for the second time this year to the 20- year- old Russian.

Halep improved to a 17- 1 this year and needs only to reach the final to stay at the top.

Next up for Halep is Petra Martic of Croatia, who beat Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 6- 3, 7- 6 ( 4).

American teenager Amanda Anisimova’s run of success ended in a 1- 6, 6- 7 ( 2) loss to No. 5 seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.

Anisimova, a 16- year- old wild card, won her first three WTA Tour matches at Indian Wells, beating Pauline Parmentier, No. 23 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and twotime Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova without dropping a set.

Pliskova faces Naomi Osaka in quarterfinal who beat Maria Sakkari of Greece 6- 1, 5- 7, 6- 1.

Halep attended Venus Williams’ straight- set victory over 36- year- old sister and new mother Serena on Monday night.