Serena Williams returns the ball to Sabine Lisicki during their quarterfinal match in the Miami Open on Wednesday. (AFP)
DPA/Miami
Serena Williams will square off against Simona Halep in the semi-finals of the Miami Masters after overcoming a mid-match slump to earn her 700th career victory on Wednesday. The number one defeated German Sabine Lisicki 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 6-3 in their quarter-final match.
Third seed Halep, who could move to second in the rankings behind Williams with a tournament title, hammered Sloane Stephens 6-1, 7-5.
Halep had the crowd’s support against her American opponent in a match which took an hour and a quarter to complete.
The Romanian was the last woman to beat Williams on the WTA. She defeated the world number one in Singapore last autumn.
The pair were to have played an Indian Wells semi-final last month - a tournament eventually won by Helep - before Williams withdrew with a knee injury.
Halep owns three WTA trophies this season, the most on the Tour.
Williams is working for a record eighth title at the event, which is being held not far from her Florida home. But the world number one had to battle to get past Lisicki, a former Wimbledon finalist.
“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. “Just staying positive and winning as much as I can.”
Martina Navratilova has the record for the most victories in the women’s game, with 1,442.
Williams now stands 71-7 in Miami, where she has won her last 16 matches.
Williams played strongly in the first set despite committing over a third of her more than 50 unforced errors.
The top seed wrapped up the set after saving a Lisicki set point in the 12th game which brought on a tiebreaker. Lisicki double-faulted on a Williams set point to drop the set after nearly an hour.
The German found a groove in the second, breaking Williams three times as she levelled the match at a set each.
But it was all Williams in the third, with the American breaking for 2-0 and taking that margin home for the victory in two hours.
“I was not playing my best today. I had a lot more unforced errors than usual,” said Williams. “Some days you are just off. That’s when you have to fight. I know today wasn’t my best day.
“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 per cent instead of 100 per cent.
“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.”
Williams has won the last two Miami editions and now stands 3-1 over Lisicki.
