Suarez-Navarro Rallies Back to Oust Venus in Miami

Carla Suarez-Navarro stormed back to defeat Venus Williams 0-6, 6-1, 7-5 and reach the Miami Open semifinals on Tuesday. The 12th-seeded Spaniard won 13 of the final 18 games after getting bageled in the opening set to reach the final four.

“It was a crazy match, a crazy first two sets, and Venus was unbelievable at the beginning,” said Suarez-Navarro. “I started a little bit nervous, but in tennis, even if you lose the first set, you’re still in contention. And I’m happy with the way I came back after losing the first set tonight.”

Venus was spectacular in the opening set, firing 14 winners to Suarez-Navarro’s none, and rolled through the first six games.

The tide completely turned in the second set as Suarez-Navarro became the aggressor and was firing the winners. In contrast, Venus struggled to hit the lines and allowed the Spaniard to capture the set 6-1 to force a third.

In the third, things tightened up as both players traded blows. Venus coughed up two break advantages though which opened the door for Suarez-Navarro to take the third set and the match.

“I feel like I have the ability to win a match like this, but unfortunately it was a loss,” said Venus. “Just a little too many errors. I was going for it the whole match, but towards the end I never found the happy medium between being aggressive and putting the ball in the court. But I learn from my losses—they always make me better.”

In the semifinals, Suarez-Navarro will take on ninth-seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany, The German followed up her win over Ekaterina Makarova by beating WTA Rising Star Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-2.

The 14th-seeded Pliskova entered the match tied for the most match wins on the season, but was handled by Petkovic, who only had 10 unforced errors all match long.

“I was playing really well at the start, but I couldn’t see the ball on my serve with the sun on side, and I was struggling,” Petkovic said of the first set. “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.”

The other semifinal on the women’s side will be decided later today. World number one Serena Williams will take on Sabine Lisicki while Simona Halep will play Sloane Stephens.