Venus sweeps into fourth round

Indian Wells - Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams booked a fourth-round berth at the Indian Wells WTA hard-court tournament on Monday with a straight-sets win over Czech Lucie Safarova.

Williams, seeded 12th in her second tournament since a runner-up finish to her sister Serena in the Australian Open in January, had saved three match points en route to a second-round victory over Jelena Jankovic.

But she needed no heroics against 40th-ranked Safarova, taking just 63 minutes to advance, 6-4, 6-2.

She next faces either sixth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland or Chinese veteran Peng Shuai.