Serena Williams and Venus Williams will meet before the fourth round of a tournament for the first time since 1998 when they face off at Indian Wells.
The third-round match, scheduled for 7pm on Monday night (Indian Wells time), will be the 29th meeting of their illustrious careers.
Serena leads the head-to-head series 17-11 and has won eight of the last nine meetings dating back to 2009; Venus’ lone victory during that span came in 2014 in the Montreal semifinals.
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This will be their first meeting at Indian Wells.
They were scheduled to play in the 2001 semifinals before Venus pulled out minutes prior to the highly-anticipated clash, prompting a hostile crowd reaction and the sisters’ subsequent boycott of the event, which lasted 14 years until Serena returned in 2015.
Venus joined her at the tournament the following year.
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This year, Venus, seeded eighth, received a first-round bye and reached the third round thanks to a straight-sets win over Sorana Cirstea.
A few days earlier, Serena made her comeback to singles after a 14-month absence with a first-round win against Zarina Diyas, and backed that up with a hard-fought second-round victory over Kiki Bertens to set up the all-Williams affair.
“She’s playing really well and just honing her game,” Venus said of her sister. “She looked like she never lost a step, really.”
Added Serena: “Having to play each other in the third round, one of us is going to be gone.”
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