California, March 16: American tennis star Venus Williams cemented her position in the semi-finals of the Indian Wells Masters, after recording a straight-sets victory over Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain here on Friday. The 37-year-old needed just over an hour to clinch a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 win over Navarro in a one-sided quarter-final clash of the women's singles event.

Ecstatic with her victory, Venis said that she was satisfied to play deep in such big tournament and earn a victory with huge margin. "I'm definitely happy. You kind of hope for this kind of scoreline, but you never know if you're actually going to get it. I was happy with way I played.Playing deep in a big tournament is exciting, fantastic," the WTA quoted Venus, as saying.

With the win, the former world number one has made it to her first semi-final of the Indian Wells in last 17 years. The seven-time Grand Slam champion last reached the last four at Indian Wells in 2001, when she withdrew from the tournament due to tendonitis and handled sister Serena a walkover into the finals. Venus will now lock horns with Daria Kasatkina of Russia for a place in the summit showdown of the women's singles event.