She’s already knocked out Serena

Heading into this year’s Indian Wells, Serena Williams dominated the discussion of the women’s draw.

She was making her return to the tennis circuit after the birth of her daughter. And many expected the legend to pick up where she left off.

However, Venus Williams scuppered her younger sister’s plans with a 6-3 6-4 third-round win.

Venus enjoyed a resurgence of her own last year. She hadn’t reached a Grand Slam final since 2009, but she made it to the last two of the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

After beating her sister, Venus took to the court again less than 20 hours later to face Anastasija Sevastova in the last 16. It took her a while to get going, but she eventually won the first set in a tiebreaker. She then sealed the win with a 6-4 second set.

Now the 37-year-old has a huge opportunity to win at Indian Wells for the first time in her career. She’s in the last eight and 8/1 to win the tournament.

The veteran is the 4/7 favourite against Carla Suarez Navarro on Thursday evening. She’s won four of her five previous encounters against the Spaniard.

Current world number one Simona Halep is still in the draw, as is number five Karolina Pliskova. But Williams has all the experience. And at number eight in the world, she’s still a threat to anyone on her day.

If the seven-time Grand Slam winner makes it through her next match, anything is possible from the semi-finals onwards.

All Odds and Markets correct as of date of publication