Suarez Navarro to meet Petkovic in Miami semis
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Miami, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Carla Suarez Navarro lost the first set of her quarterfinal match against Venus Williams in a half-hour, then rallied to join German Andrea Petkovic in the semifinals at the $5.3 million Miami Open.
The 12th-seeded Navarro was bageled in a one-sided first set but won the first four games of the second and shook off an early break in the third.
Williams, the No. 16 seed who titled her three times from 1998-2001, coughed up a pair of double faults in her final service game and hit the last point of the match into the net to hand the Spaniard an 0-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The resurgent Petkovic was an easy quarterfinal victor, as the oft-injured ninth-seeded German star blew past 14th-seeded big-serving Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-2 in 75 minutes on the hardcourts at Crandon Park. "Petko" is 2-1 lifetime versus the rising Pliskova.
"I was playing really well at the start, but I couldn't see the ball on my serve with the sun on one side, and I was struggling," Petkovic said of some first-set troubles. "Karolina started playing really well, too. I was a little lucky at the end of the first set, and then I was playing better and better from there."
Petkovic was also a Miami semifinalist in 2011.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I can't explain it, but @MiamiOpenTennis is 1 of my favorite places," the German tweeted following Tuesday's victory.
Two more quarterfinals will be held on Wednesday, when current No. 1 superstar Serena Williams takes on 27th-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki and red-hot third-seeded Romanian Simona Halep battles unseeded American Sloane Stephens. Lisicki stunned Serena in a fourth-rounder at Wimbledon two years ago. Last year's French Open runner-up Halep has won her last 13 matches on tour, which includes a title at Indian Wells prior to this Miami fortnight.
The 33-year-old Florida resident Serena is a seven-time Miami champ and two- time runner-up. The reigning Australian and U.S. Open winner beat Li Na in last year's Miami Open finale for a second straight title in "Magic City."