Roger Federer, of Switzerland, returns a shot against Chung Hyeon, of South Korea, during the quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Thursday, March 15, 2018, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The seniors are rolling into the semifinals at the BNP Paribas Open.
Roger Federer and Venus Williams won in straight sets on Thursday, extending the 36-year-old Swiss superstar’s bid for a record sixth title in the desert and the 37-year-old American’s attempt to win her first.
Federer defeated Chung Hyeon 7-5, 6-1 and equal his career-best start of 16-0 from 2006.
Williams beat Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-2 in the event where she first broke out as a 16-year-old qualifier in 1997.
Federer won the Australian Open in January and has regained the No. 1 ranking. Williams returned to the top 10 last year after being runner-up at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
“I’m just happy that I’m able to keep up a good level. Same for Venus,” Federer said. “Really happy for her that she’s really consistently easily making all these semis and finals and winning tournaments.”
With Rod Laver and Pete Sampras looking on, Federer fired 12 aces and was broken just once.
Federer and Chung last played in the Australian Open semifinals, when the South Korean was forced to retire trailing 6-1, 5-2 because of blisters on his left foot. Federer went on to win the title and at 36 is the No. 1 player again.
Federer saved a handful of break points in the first game of the second set and then broke Chung twice, including on a double fault to take a 5-1 lead.
“I had a plan in place, but then you adjust to it constantly,” Federer said. “Maybe it’s the wind, maybe it’s the opponent, because you just don’t know his patterns yet. I like it when it’s the unknown, even though it can be a bit scary.”
Serving for the match, Federer’s errant backhand spoiled his first match point. His forehand volley went wide, giving Chung a break chance. But Chung’s forehand error got Federer to deuce and he closed out his second match point with an ace that Chung unsuccessfully challenged the call on.
Next up for Federer is Borna Coric of Croatia, who upset No. 7 seed Kevin Anderson 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) for his first win in four tries against the South African.
Williams has never reached the final of the desert tournament and to do she’ll have to get by 20-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina, who has yet to drop a set in four matches at Indian Wells.
At 37, Williams is the oldest player in the draw. She made the quarterfinals in her tournament debut in 1997 and notched her first win over a top-10 player before losing to eventual champion Lindsay Davenport.
Williams took 71 minutes to put away Suarez Navarro for the fourth straight time on Thursday. Playing in swirling winds, Suarez Navarro committed 29 unforced errors to 17 for Williams.
“I don’t care what’s happening on court, I just try to execute my game,” Williams said. “You kind of hope for this kind of scoreline, but you never know if you’re actually going to get it.”
Kasatkina needed just 58 minutes to dispatch former No. 1 Angelique Kerber 6-0, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
The Russian has knocked out U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens and No. 2-ranked Caroline Wozniacki along the way.
“Maybe, yeah, from the side or with the score it looks like it was simple, but of course it’s not,” Kasatkina said. “I knew that in one moment if I will lose focus just for a second, they will come back and then the big battle, five hours again, will start.”
She gave Kerber no chance.
The German never managed a break point against Kasatkina’s serve. The Russian connected on 82 percent of her first serves, winning 22 of 32 first-serve points.
Besides Stephens and Australian Open winner Wozniacki, Kasatkina has beaten the other current Grand Slam titleholders in the past year: French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko and Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza.
That’s part of the reason for her impressive rise in the rankings over the last three years, and she’s guaranteed to make her highest move yet as a result of her deep run in the desert. She came into the tournament at No. 19, two spots lower than her career-best. She could move to 15th or 16th, and has a shot at the top 10 if she would win the title.
The other women’s semi is already set: No. 1 Simona Halep against Japan’s Naomi Osaka, another 20-year-old making a huge run through the draw. Osaka’s victims have included Maria Sharapova, No. 31 Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 5 Karolina Pliskova.