Serena reaches landmark in Miami

World number one Serena Williams overcame a dreadful second set to beat Germany’s Sabine Lisicki 7-6(4) 1-6 6-3 for her 700th career win and a berth in the Miami Open semi-finals.

Williams will face Romania’s Simona Halep for a place in the final after the third-seed beat Sloane Stephens 6-1 7-5.

The pair were due to meet in the semi-finals at Indian Wells earlier this month but Williams pulled out with a knee injury and Halep went on to beat Jelena Jankovic in the final.

Williams is the eighth player in WTA history to record 700 match wins, putting her in an exclusive club that is led by Martina Navratilova (1,442).

“I didn’t know I had 700 wins,” said Williams, “I just want to keep doing, doing the best that I can. Just staying positive and winning as much as I can.”

Murray to face Berdych

In the men’s draw, third-seed Andy Murray recovered from an early setback to beat Austrian Dominic Thiem 3-6 6-4 6-1 to reach the last-four.

He will face eighth seed Tomas Berdych who defeated Argentine Juan Monaco 6-3 6-4.

“At the beginning of the match I didn’t return well, especially returning his first serve. That put me in sort of a defensive position a lot when he was serving. I ended up doing quite a lot of running there,” said Murray.

“In the second set I went up and I was creating quite a lot of opportunities, which was good, but I was just not quite finding the right shot.

“I think in the third set the difference was really my returning. I returned his first serve extremely well. I put him on the back foot,” he said.