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Williams sisters win to set up clash at Indian Wells
Serena Williams and sister Venus won at the BNP Paribas Open to set up a third-round clash in the desert tournament.
Serena got by No. 29 seed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the second round on Saturday in her return from a 14-month absence after giving birth to her first child. Venus preceded her younger sister on the stadium court and beat Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3, 6-4.
The sisters will resume their longtime rivalry on Monday. Serena leads Venus 17-11 all-time and has won eight of their last nine meetings, most recently the Australian Open final last year.
“Obviously, I wish it was anybody else in the draw, literally anybody, but that’s OK,” Serena said. “Just have to go out there and see how I am and do my best.”
Roger Federer led Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-3, 2-2 when their match was delayed by a heavy drizzle 56 minutes after it began.
Wild card Danielle Collins defeated U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys 6-3, 7-6 (1) to continue a string of upsets.
Keys hasn’t made it past the fourth round at Indian Wells in eight tries. The No. 15 seed was mistake-prone throughout the second-round match, committing five unforced errors in the tiebreaker.
Collins, ranked 116th and making her first appearance in the main draw, is just starting her second year on the WTA Tour.
She joined American upset winners Sachia Vickery, who beat No. 3 seed Garbine Muguruza; 16-year-old wild card Amanda Anisimova, who beat No. 23 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova; and wild-card teenager Caroline Dolehide, a three-set winner over No. 30 Dominika Cibulkova on Friday.
In other matches Saturday, defending champion Elena Vesnina eliminated American CiCi Bellis 2-6, 6-1, 6-1; No. 4 seed Elina Svitolina beat Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-3; No. 12 Julia Goerges defeated Natalia Vikhlyantseva 6-4, 6-1; No. 27 Carla Suarez Navarro beat Su-Wei Hsieh 6-4, 2-6, 6-3; and No. 26 Daria Gavrilova dismissed Yanina Wickmayer 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Two seeded players lost: No. 18 Magdalena Rybarikova and No. 28 Anett Kontaveit.
On the men’s side, No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov was upset by Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 and No. 16 Fabio Fognini went down against Jeremy Chardy 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
No. 30 Pablo Cuevas beat Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Highly acclaimed and much-loved singer, songwriter, rapper, producer and South London native Jessica Wilde kicks of her 2024 by joining forces with the incredible Josh Barry for a soulful Valentine’s Day release ‘Love Like This’, out 14th February.
Packed with soaring emotions and infused with smoky orchestral atmospheres, ‘Love Like This’ is a striking nu-soul gem which will be released on Wilde’s forthcoming album and follows her recent singles ‘Freak Out’ and ‘Feathers’ ft. Zoe Kypri. The two 2023 singles saw her pick up many spins on BBC Radio 1’s Future Artists with Jack Saunders, BBC Radio 1 Introducing with Jess Iszatt, John Kennedy’s X-Posure Daily on Radio X, playlist support across the board from Spotify, Apple, Youtube and Tidal amongst other acclaim. Josh Barry has also been picking up serious heat, recently featuring with Rudimental and Sigma, collaborating with Nile Rogers and opening for Rag ‘N’ Bone Man on tour. Josh Barry brings a dynamic force to the collab as he embodies the spirit of legendary icons like James Brown and Jimi Hendrix.
On ‘Love Like This’, Wilde explains, “When we got in the studio, the song basically wrote itself, we wanted to capture that raw soulful essence in our husky tones, and a nostalgic feeling of those classic Marvin Gaye love songs but with a 2024 flip.”
As the dreamy, smooth track escalates, Wilde and Barry’s yearning vocals entwine with epic effect as the pair find the ‘Love Like This’ that they have been searching and waiting for. The release comes with a Valentine’s launch show at the iconic ‘The Bedford’ and a 6-part Instagram & TikTok reel series, released every other day from 16th February, which everyone should tune into to see Wilde and Barry explore the track’s steamy and romantic themes in more depth through nostalgic aesthetics.
2024 looks set to be an exciting new year for Wilde. With her album on the horizon, she has been gaining growing support from not only BBC Radio 1 but also 6 Music, BBC Radio London, KISS, editorial playlist support across DSPs, as well as features in CLASH, Complex, Wonderland, The Independent and many more.
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