- Indian Wells
Serena books semi-final showdown with Halep
Serena Williams advanced to the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open with a 7-5 6-3 win over Timea Bacsinszky, extending the American's winning streak to 15 matches on her return to Indian Wells after ending a 14-year boycott of the tournament.
"I'm just happy that I was able to get through that and still be alive in this tournament when I haven't clearly been the Serena that we all know," Williams said.
Bacsinszky had her 15-match winning streak snapped, although her 21-3 record leads the WTA Tour this year. She broke to take a 3-1 lead in the opening set before Williams tied it up 3-3 and then held for a 4-3 lead.
Bacsinszky held for 5-5 and had two break points in the next game, but two straight forehand errors saw the chance disappear. Williams held and then broke in the next game to take the set.
The second set featured four straight breaks of serve before Williams won four of the final five games.
"The only thing is I know can I play a lot better. I really take a lot of solace in that," Williams said. "Even if I don't win this event, I know I can play a tremendous amount better than what I have been playing."
Williams will face third seed Simona Halep, who rallied to beat world No.12 Carla Suarez Navarro 5-7 6-1 6-1.
Halep trailed 4-0 in the first set and admitted she was nervous at the start of the match.
"Then I changed my tactic a little bit just to play more into the court and to play more aggressive, to open the court more, and to take the ball very fast," she said. "I wanted to try just to make her run a lot because I know that she's moving well and she's hitting really well close to the body. So I tried just to open the court and to finish the points very quickly."
