TENNIS – Seven-time Miami champion Serena Williams came back from a set down to overcome Sabine Lisicki in three sets with 7-6 (7-4) 1-6 6-3 scoring her 700th milestone match win and her19th consecutive win on Tour. She joins an elite club of players who have won at least 700 matches featuring Martina Navratilova who leads this special ranking with 1442 wins, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Virgina Wade and Aranxta Sanchez Vicario. Williams will face Indian Wells champion Simona Halep who beat Sloane Stephens 6-1 7-5 Diego Sampaolo
Williams won her 71st win at Crandon Park and scored her 19th consecutive win in a special tournament as she lives in Palm Beach, just a few miles far away from Miami.
Williams broke serve in the fourth game for 3-1 but Lisicki recovered by reeling off three games with a double break to take the lead with 4-3. After a trade of breaks the first set came down to the tie-break. Williams won the decisive point at 5-3 with her down-the-line passing shot before closing out with 7-4 as Lisicki double faulted on the final point.
Williams went up a set and a break in the first game of the second set but the German won six consecutive games to win the 29-minute second set with 6-1 forcing the match to the third set. Williams hit just 5 winners to 17 unforced errors in the first set
Williams went down 15-30 as she was serving in the opening game of the decider but she hit a forehand winner at 30-30 and managed to hold her serve. She got the only break of the third set in the second game before opening up a 3-0 . The rest of the third set went on serve until Serena wrapped up the set with 6-3.
Williams won despite a shaky serve and 51 unforced errors.
“I know today wasn’t my best day. I just told myself. I am not serving the way I normally serve and hitting the way I would normally would hit.
The two players have met for the first time since Lisicki’s surprising win at Wimbledon in 2013.
“I wasn’t playing my best tennis today but some days you’re just off and that’s when you have to fight”, said Williams.
Williams was presented with a special cake to celebrate her 700th career win
“I saw them bringing out a cake and I thought: “Whose birthday is it today ?”, said Williams jokingly.
This year’s Indian Wells champion Simona Halep won the second quarter final against Sloane Stephens with 6-1 7-5 to the delight of the many Romanian fans who packed the stands of Key Biscayne. Halep set up the semifinal against Serena Williams. Halep and Stephens tied 2-2 in their previous head-to-head matches but the US player won both matches played on hard court.
Stephens started well bringing up two break points but she failed to convert them. Halep reeled nine consecutive games to pull away to 6-1 3-0 with a double break after 34 minutes of great tennis. Stephens got her first break of the match for 1-3 after Halep played a bad fourth game. The young youth player clawed her way into the match winning three games in a row. Halep won a solid eighth service game to draw level to 4-4. Halep reeled off three of the next four games to close out the match with 6-1 7-5.
“The beginning of the match was very fast. I was really playing my best tennis. She came back and changed the tactics, playing a little bit slower and I lost my rhythm for a little bit. I am happy I could get it back and win the match at the end”, said Halep.
Halep won only a match in four head-to-head ties against Williams in the round-robin of the WTA Championships last October in Singapore with 6-0 6-2. Williams took the re-match a few days later in the Singapore final claiming the WTA Championships title with 6-0 6-3. Two weeks ago they set up a semifinal match at Indian Wells but Williams was forced to pull out of the match due to a knee injury.
