Venus beat Sevastova to reach Indian Wells quarter-finals

American tennis star Venus Williams booked her place in the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells Master for the third time in her career after clinching a straight-sets win over No.21 seed Anastasija Sevastova here on Wednesday.

Boosting with confidence after defeating younger sister Serena in the last round for the first time since 2014, Venus went on to seal a 7-6(6), 6-4 win over Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova in a thrilling fourth-round clash that lasted an hour and 48 minutes.

Following the win, Venus admitted that it was not at all an easy match and that Sevastova gave a tough fight to her.

"It was not an easy match to figure out.She has everything in her game. And it was a quick comeback from yesterday, where you have the emotions of, 'Hey, this feels like a final! But guess what, you're only in the fourth round," the WTA quoted Venus, as saying.

Earlier, Venus cut short Serena Williams' return after a 15-month pregnancy layoff by defeating the latter 6-3, 6-4 in the last-32 clash that lasted one and a half hours.

It was Venus' first win in this rivalry since 2014 and the first straight-set win since 2008.

Venus will now lock horns with Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro in the quarter-finals of the women's singles event.