Former winner Andy Murray battled into the semi-finals of the $US9.6 million ATP/WTA Miami tournament on Wednesday, while Venus Williams’ comeback event was brought to a halt by Pole Agnieszka Radwanska.
The British fourth seed, chasing his second title of the season after winning in Brisbane earlier this year, rallied to beat Serb ninth seed Janko Tipsarevic 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Murray crashed out of his last tournament, losing his opener at Indian Wells, and he looked as if he could be headed for another exit when he lost six games in a row in this one.
“I felt like at the start I was hitting the ball fine. It was quite breezy so I just had to be a bit more patient with my shot selection,” said 2009 Miami winner Murray.
The 24-year-old Scot will next face either sixth seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or world number two Rafael Nadal of Spain.
“It should be a great match because both are two of the most exciting players on the tour,” Murray said.
Murray improved to 5-3 lifetime against Tipsarevic who fell behind 2-4 before winning six straight games – four to win the first set and two more for a 2-0 lead in the second.
Murray rallied, however, to win the second set. He then converted a lone service break in the final set to take the match in two hours, 39 minutes.
Murray finished with six aces, two double faults and won 66 percent of his first-serve points.
Tipsarevic fired seven aces but won just 32 percent of his second-serve points.
Besides winning in Brisbane this year, Murray also finished runner-up to Roger Federer in Dubai and lost a five-set thriller to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.
On the women’s side Radwanska downed Williams 6-4 6-1 to reach the semis.
Radwanska, ranked fourth in the world and seeded fifth, next faces either world No.1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus or French seventh seed Marion Bartoli for a place in the final.
She needed one hour and 21 minutes to overcome Williams, who was playing her first WTA tournament in more than six months after her abrupt withdrawal from the second round of the US Open, where she revealed she had been diagnosed with the auto-immune disorder Sjogren syndrome.
Williams, 31, is hoping to raise her world ranking high enough to allow her to compete at the London Olympics.
Currently 134th in the world, she is projected to move up to around 90th when the new rankings are released on Monday thanks to reaching the quarter-finals in Miami.
The top 56 in the world as of early June are eligible for direct entry into the Olympic tournament, which will be held at Wimbledon.
