Murray into Miami semis, Serena wins 700th match

Andy Murray will face Tomas Berdych in the Miami Open semi-finals after beating Austria’s Dominic Thiem.

The 27-year-old Scot lost the opening set to world number 36 Thiem, but rallied to secure a 3-6 6-4 6-1 win.

Murray will face Czech Berdych for the first time since their tense Australian Open semi-final, which Murray won.

Serena Williams earned the 700th victory of her career as she booked her place in the semi-finals with victory over Germany’s Sabine Lisicki.

Murray had reached the quarter-final with Thiem after a landmark 500th career victory over South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.

However, the Scot made a sluggish start in his first meeting with 21-year-old Thiem and dropped the first set.

In the second, Murray capitalised on a couple of unforced errors after Thiem had battled back from 3-0 down to level at 4-4 to close out the set.

The 2013 Wimbledon champion saw out the match in emphatic fashion as he dropped just one game to secure his place in the last four.

Murray said his returning let him down early in the match before he pushed Thiem “back off the baseline” in the third set.

He told Sky Sports: “I was getting myself into break point positions and it is a fine line between going for winners and trying to finish the point and making your opponent play.

“Being a good match player is understanding when to go for your shots and when to back off a little bit.”

Meanwhile, Williams required three sets to beat 27th seed Lisicki 7-6 (7-4) 1-6 6-3 in her quarter-final to reach the last four.

The 33-year-old American is the eighth player to win 700 WTA matches, although still well behind Martina Navratilova with 1,442.

The win for top seed Williams, who had been a doubt for Miami with a knee injury, elevated her record in the tournament to 71 wins, with just seven defeats.

Lisicki had a chance at set point in the first set, but she was unable to convert and the 25-year-old was broken to send the set to a tiebreaker, which Williams won.

World number one Williams looked to be on her way when she broke Lisicki in the first game of the second set, but the German fought back and dominated the rest of the set.

However, Williams regained her concentration in the deciding set and sealed victory in just over two hours, reports the BBC.