Venus Williams cut her sister Serena’s comeback short with a 6-3, 6-4 win in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open here on Monday.
Returning after more than a year away from the game to have a baby, Serena put up a good fight, saving match-point while trailing 5-2 in the second set, but her rustiness told in the end.
Venus told reporters that she never counted the 23-times Grand Slam champion out of the match.
“I always know that its never over until its over,” she said. “She kept roaring back, I’m just lucky that I’ve played more matches than her right now.
Venus, who has climbed to No. 8 in the world after enjoying a strong 2017, had six aces and broke Serena’s service four times, prevailing in a long final game when her younger sister’s groundstroke fell long.
Wozniacki posts win
In earlier matches, Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki kept alive her hopes of regaining the World No.1 with a scrappy 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 third round win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Next up for the 27-year-old Dane is Daria Kasatkina who defeated U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-3. Stephens has been in a tailspin since breaking through for last year’s Major win, and has failed to advance past a quarterfinal this year.
In the men’s section, top seed Roger Federer needed less than an hour to dispatch Filip Krajinovic 6-2, 6-1, mixing overpowering serves and pinpoint groundstrokes to advance to the fourth round of the tournament.
In another match, fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem had to retire with an ankle injury while trailing Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 4-6, 2-4.
The results (third round):
Men: Roger Federer bt Filip Krajinovic 6-2, 6-1; Jeremy Chardy bt Adrian Mannarino 7-5, 4-6, 6-1; Hyeon Chung bt Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-4; Pablo Cuevas bt Dominic Thiem 3-6, 6-4, 4-2 retd.; Taylor Fritz bt Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(1); Borna Coric bt Roberto Bautista 6-1, 6-3; Pablo Carreno-Busta bt Daniil Medvedev 6-1, 7-5; Kevin Anderson bt Nicolas Kicker 7-6(1), 7-6(3).
Women: Venus Williams bt Serena Williams 6-3, 6-4; Anastasija Sevastova bt Julia Georges 6-3, 6-3; Carla Suarez bt Elina Svitolina 7-5, 6-3; Caroline Garcia bt Daria Gavrilova 7-5, 6-4; Danielle Collins bt Sofya Zhuk 6-4, 6-4; Angelique Kerber bt Elena Vesnina 7-5, 6-2; Caroline Wozniacki bt Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 2-6, 6-3; Darya Kasatkina bt Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-3.