Indian Wells: Venus Williams sets up semi-final clash with Kasatkina

Venus WilliamsSeventime Grand Slam winner Venus Williams reached the WTA Indian Wells semifinals for the first time since 2001 on Thursday by routing Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 63 62 Despite the windy conditions Williams improved to 52 on the season which includes a third round win on Monday over sister Serena who was making her return to the WTA after having a baby You kind of hope for this kind of scoreline but you never know if youre actually going to get it Williams saidWilliams who at 37 is the oldest player in the womens draw has played sparingly this year but is just beginning to step up her game She next faces 20yearold Russian Daria Kasatkina who cruised to an easy 60 62 victory in 58 minutes over the world number 10 Angelique Kerber She dominated Suarez Navarro who became increasingly frustrated and had to call her coach a couple of times to come down to the court in between sets for advice Weve had a lot of great matches Williams said of playing Suarez Navarro I was glad that I was able to close it outWilliams is back in the semis in the California desert for the first time since pulling out before a semifinal match against Serena in 2001 with an injury Williams who is seeded eighth will need that experience when she takes the court in the next round against Kasatkina who has been jackhammering Grand Slam champions for the past year and rolling over top 10 players this week in Indian Wells They have played twice before in 2016 with Williams winning at Wimbledon 75 46 108 and Kasatkina winning another tough three setter in Auckland 67 47 63 63 Williams said she remembers the Wimbledon contest but couldnt recall losing to her in New Zealand I only remember oneSo I will try to remember the other one at some point Williams said Kasatkina defeated her second straight top 10 player as she needed less than an hour to rout Kerber and book her first Indian Wells semifinal Kasatkina who is ranked 19th in the world has beaten all four reigning Grand Slam winners in the past year including US Open winner Sloane Stephens in the third round in Indian Wells She advanced to the quarterfinals with a threeset win over world No 2 Caroline Wozniacki who won the Australian Open in January Asked about her giantkilling form of late Kasatkina said she is young and eager to learn every time she steps on the court against a Grand Slam champion world number one or top 10 player Of course it was not easy she said They are one of the best players in the world winning Grand Slams Germanys Kerber is definitely in that elite class In 2016 she won both the Australian Open and the US Open beating Serena Williams and Karolina Pliskova respectivelyCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the goThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever