Miami Open: Serena to face Halep after 700th win, Murray books semi against Berdych
The 33-year-old beats Sabine Lisicki 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 6-3; the Brit earns victory over Dominic Thiem 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
Serena Williams of the United States poses for a photograph with a cake to celebrate her 700th WTA Tour win after her three set victory against Sabine Lisicki of Germany in their quarter final match during the Miami Open Presented by Itau at Crandon Park PHOTO: AFP
MIAMI:
Serena Williams marked another milestone Wednesday, punching her semi-final ticket at the Miami Masters with her 700th career match win, a 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 6-3 triumph over Sabine Lisicki.
Williams will face a familiar foe for a place in the final, taking on popular Romanian Simona Halep, a 6-1, 7-5 winner over Sloane Stephens.
World number one Williams became the eighth player to win 700 WTA matches. Martina Navratilova owns the most match wins, with 1,442.
"I didn't know I had 700, now I just want to keep going, doing the best that I can," said the 33-year-old American, who was feted with a cake from tournament organizers after the victory.
"(I'm) just staying positive and winning as much as I can," added Williams, who grabbed her 19th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open this year.
Third-seeded Halep dominated Stephens, racing to a 6-1, 3-0 lead before the American dug in. Stephens won five of the next six games to take a 5-4 lead in the second but couldn't force a third set.
"I'm really happy I played like this, it was an amazing match for me," Halep said. "I played my best till 3-0 in the second set, and then I lost the rhythm a little bit.
"She changed the tactic and it was more difficult for me to hit the ball. But I'm really happy that I could finish in two sets and to stay focused until the end."
Halep has some history with Williams. The Romanian is the last woman to beat the US superstar on the WTA tour, humbling the world number one 6-0, 6-2 in the round robin phase of the WTA Finals in Singapore in October.
Williams rebounded quickly — beating Halep 6-3, 6-0 in the final days later.
"I have just to play aggressive against Serena like I did today at the beginning the match," said Halep.
"I think this is the most important thing to have to the chance against her."
Williams and Halep were to have faced off in the semi-finals at Indian Wells a fortnight ago, but Williams withdrew from the match with a knee injury.
Halep went on to win the biggest title of her career in the premier level tournament in the California desert.
The Romanian owns a WTA-leading three titles this season.
Against her, Williams will have to avoid the kind of lapses that made the going difficult against Lisicki.
Williams, seeking a third straight Miami title and her eighth overall, fought off a set point in the opening set, breaking Lisicki's serve to force the tiebreaker.
Williams looked to be on her way when she broke Lisicki in the first game of the second set, but Lisicki reeled off the next six games to claim the set as Williams' unforced errors ballooned.
Williams regained her concentration, grabbing an early break in the third en route to the victory in just over two hours.
"I know today wasn't my best day," said Williams.
"I just told myself, I'm not serving the way I normally serve and hitting the way I normally would hit, so at this point all I can do is just fight and try to give 200 percent instead of 100 percent.
"Obviously I don't want to lose, or at least I want to try to do the best I can.
"She had a lot of momentum going into the third set after winning the second. I wanted to just stay strong and basically really wanted to hold serve."
Murray rallies to set semi-final showdown with Berdych
World number four Andy Murray booked his semi-final berth at the Miami Masters on Wednesday, rallying for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Austrian Dominic Thiem.
The third-seeded former champion will face eighth seed Tomas Berdych after the Czech dispatched Juan Monaco 6-3, 6-4 to extend his perfect record against the Argentine to 7-0.
Murray, who won title at Crandon Park in 2009 and 2013, was initially stunned by the clean and powerful one-handed backhand of the 21-year-old Thiem, who has looked strong in Miami after coming into the tournament with a 3-5 record in 2015.
"I expected a tough match, he's beaten some very good players this week," said Murray, who needed one hour and 44 minutes to seal the win.
"He's a very big hitter of the ball, a very strong guy and he moves extremely well.
"When you let him dictate the points, he hits the ball as hard off each side as anyone. He made me do a lot of running."
Thiem, ranked 52nd in the world, now stands 1-7 against top-10 opponents.
But he surprised Murray in the opening set, breaking for 3-1 on his way to winning the first frame.
"I would've liked to have started the match a little bit better, but with his game style, if you're not, like, right on it from the beginning, he's an extremely tough, tough guy to play against," said Murray .
Two-time Grand Slam champion Murray launched his fight-back with a quick break for a 2-0 lead in the second.
Thiem regained the break to narrow the gap to 4-3, but Murray broke him in the final game of the set — Thiem saving one set point before putting a backhand wide on another.
His confidence boosted, Murray ran away with the final set, taking his lead to 5-1 with a second break of Thiem before closing out the win with a service winner.
"Before this week I would have given a lot for the quarter-finals, but now of course in the first moment I'm a little bit disappointed, especially as I won the first set," Thiem said.
"I played a good match.
"But I will leave Miami positive for sure and with a good feeling for the claycourt season."
Berdych took 92 minutes to get past Monaco, producing a pair of love service games and a break in the final three games to capture the tight second set and seal the win.
"It was a tough one today, it was very important to get an early lead," said the winner. "He was playing fast and giving me pressure on every ball.
"But I managed to find a way. It was not easy but I'm very happy to go through. My focus was to stay as close as possible with him and try to create opportunities.
"When I had a chance I tried to take it."
Berdych has won six of 11 encounters with Murray, but lost their last meeting, in the Australian Open semi-finals two months ago.
Serena Williams marked another milestone Wednesday, punching her semi-final ticket at the Miami Masters with her 700th career match win, a 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 6-3 triumph over Sabine Lisicki.
Williams will face a familiar foe for a place in the final, taking on popular Romanian Simona Halep, a 6-1, 7-5 winner over Sloane Stephens.
World number one Williams became the eighth player to win 700 WTA matches. Martina Navratilova owns the most match wins, with 1,442.
"I didn't know I had 700, now I just want to keep going, doing the best that I can," said the 33-year-old American, who was feted with a cake from tournament organizers after the victory.
"(I'm) just staying positive and winning as much as I can," added Williams, who grabbed her 19th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open this year.
Third-seeded Halep dominated Stephens, racing to a 6-1, 3-0 lead before the American dug in. Stephens won five of the next six games to take a 5-4 lead in the second but couldn't force a third set.
"I'm really happy I played like this, it was an amazing match for me," Halep said. "I played my best till 3-0 in the second set, and then I lost the rhythm a little bit.
"She changed the tactic and it was more difficult for me to hit the ball. But I'm really happy that I could finish in two sets and to stay focused until the end."
Halep has some history with Williams. The Romanian is the last woman to beat the US superstar on the WTA tour, humbling the world number one 6-0, 6-2 in the round robin phase of the WTA Finals in Singapore in October.
Williams rebounded quickly — beating Halep 6-3, 6-0 in the final days later.
"I have just to play aggressive against Serena like I did today at the beginning the match," said Halep.
"I think this is the most important thing to have to the chance against her."
Williams and Halep were to have faced off in the semi-finals at Indian Wells a fortnight ago, but Williams withdrew from the match with a knee injury.
Halep went on to win the biggest title of her career in the premier level tournament in the California desert.
The Romanian owns a WTA-leading three titles this season.
Against her, Williams will have to avoid the kind of lapses that made the going difficult against Lisicki.
Williams, seeking a third straight Miami title and her eighth overall, fought off a set point in the opening set, breaking Lisicki's serve to force the tiebreaker.
Williams looked to be on her way when she broke Lisicki in the first game of the second set, but Lisicki reeled off the next six games to claim the set as Williams' unforced errors ballooned.
Williams regained her concentration, grabbing an early break in the third en route to the victory in just over two hours.
"I know today wasn't my best day," said Williams.
"I just told myself, I'm not serving the way I normally serve and hitting the way I normally would hit, so at this point all I can do is just fight and try to give 200 percent instead of 100 percent.
"Obviously I don't want to lose, or at least I want to try to do the best I can.
"She had a lot of momentum going into the third set after winning the second. I wanted to just stay strong and basically really wanted to hold serve."
Murray rallies to set semi-final showdown with Berdych
World number four Andy Murray booked his semi-final berth at the Miami Masters on Wednesday, rallying for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Austrian Dominic Thiem.
The third-seeded former champion will face eighth seed Tomas Berdych after the Czech dispatched Juan Monaco 6-3, 6-4 to extend his perfect record against the Argentine to 7-0.
Murray, who won title at Crandon Park in 2009 and 2013, was initially stunned by the clean and powerful one-handed backhand of the 21-year-old Thiem, who has looked strong in Miami after coming into the tournament with a 3-5 record in 2015.
"I expected a tough match, he's beaten some very good players this week," said Murray, who needed one hour and 44 minutes to seal the win.
"He's a very big hitter of the ball, a very strong guy and he moves extremely well.
"When you let him dictate the points, he hits the ball as hard off each side as anyone. He made me do a lot of running."
Thiem, ranked 52nd in the world, now stands 1-7 against top-10 opponents.
But he surprised Murray in the opening set, breaking for 3-1 on his way to winning the first frame.
"I would've liked to have started the match a little bit better, but with his game style, if you're not, like, right on it from the beginning, he's an extremely tough, tough guy to play against," said Murray .
Two-time Grand Slam champion Murray launched his fight-back with a quick break for a 2-0 lead in the second.
Thiem regained the break to narrow the gap to 4-3, but Murray broke him in the final game of the set — Thiem saving one set point before putting a backhand wide on another.
His confidence boosted, Murray ran away with the final set, taking his lead to 5-1 with a second break of Thiem before closing out the win with a service winner.
"Before this week I would have given a lot for the quarter-finals, but now of course in the first moment I'm a little bit disappointed, especially as I won the first set," Thiem said.
"I played a good match.
"But I will leave Miami positive for sure and with a good feeling for the claycourt season."
Berdych took 92 minutes to get past Monaco, producing a pair of love service games and a break in the final three games to capture the tight second set and seal the win.
"It was a tough one today, it was very important to get an early lead," said the winner. "He was playing fast and giving me pressure on every ball.
"But I managed to find a way. It was not easy but I'm very happy to go through. My focus was to stay as close as possible with him and try to create opportunities.
"When I had a chance I tried to take it."
Berdych has won six of 11 encounters with Murray, but lost their last meeting, in the Australian Open semi-finals two months ago.