@Venuseswilliams beat top seed Angelique Kerber on Wednesday to advance to a Miami Open semi-final against Britain’s Johanna Konta.
American 11th seed Williams, who is seeking her fourth Miami title, survived a long first set before she completed a 7-5 6-3 victory over Germany’s Kerber on a calm evening in south Florida.
Konta, the 10th seed, had earlier recovered from the brink of defeat to edge third seed Simona Halep in a three-set encounter that lasted two hours, 30 minutes.
Halep was only two points from victory in the second set, but could not put away her opponent, who pounced on the Romanian’s evident emotional fragility to prevail 3-6 7-6(7) 6-2.
Williams, 36, whose previous Miami titles came in 1998, 1999 and 2001, will meet Konta in the semi-final, while Czech second seek Karolina Pliskova faces Danish 12th seed Carolina Wozniacki.
Williams, playing in front of a crowd that included her popcorn-munching father Richard, took nearly an hour to take the first set from Kerber, but made quicker work of the second.
