Venus Williams Keeps it Rolling at WTA Indian Wells; Semis Preview

American Venus Williams and Russian Daria Kasatkina lined up a semifinal meeting at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., after wins on Thursday.
ADHEREL
The No. 8-seeded Williams kept building on her early-round win over sister Serena, on Thursday beating Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-2.

“You kind of hope for this kind of scoreline, but you never know if you’re actually going to get it,” Venus said afterwards. “I was happy with way I played. Playing deep in a big tournament is exciting, fantastic.”

Suarez Navarro had chances in both sets but could not build any momentum. Venus won the last four games of the match to seal the victory.

Venus in the semis will meet No. 20 seed Daria Kasatkina, who upset No. 10 Angelique Kerber 6-0, 6-2.

“The weather was on point. My kick was on point. Everything was well,” the happy Russian said afterwards. “Everything what I showed today I was doing on the practices, so was just playing, like, really calm.”

Kerber saw a day in which her serve and forehand failed her.

“For sure it’s maybe not the favorite court for me, because it’s really slow,” Kerber said. “I make a lot of mistakes, easy ones, and not my day at the end. For me and for my game, it’s difficult how she’s playing.”

Kasatkina said it wasn’t time to elevate her to sainthood just yet.

“I don’t want people to think that I’m somebody really special,” she said. “Because I’m just a normal human who loves football, who loves good food, you know. So I’m just somebody who is also playing tennis.”

Friday at Indian Wells will feature the semifinals Venus vs. Kasatkina, and Naomi Osaka vs. world No. 1 Simona Halep.