Li Na escaped from a very tough match against Dominika Cibulkova to conquer her second Indian Wells semi-final.
The Chinese looked in full control in the first set in the rematch of the Australian Open final, but suddenly suffered Cibulkova’s comeback and had to fight from a break down in the third.
The first set started with a show of nerves from both sides of the net: the first three games were three breaks of serve. Li was the first to hold the serve and the advantage gained in the fourth game set the tone of the whole first set.
The Australian Open champion looked solid from the baseline and confident both on defence and offence, causing Cibulkova to miss many balls in the attempt to get her off balance.
With a heavy forehand winner Li closed the first set breaking Cibulkova’s serve once again and everything seemed ready for an easy second set for her.
The Slovak, who had never won against Li in five matches, started the second set with a different attitude and by hitting harder and taking the ball earlier, she started to move Li around and take control of the rallies.
Cibulkova failed to convert a break point in the first game and soon had to save one behind her own serve, but she did it with a stunning backhand down the line, which boosted her moral.
The finalist in Melbourne hold in that game and immediately broke the Chinese’s serve, flipping the momentum all to her side.
Too fast for Li to realise, Cibulkova was hitting winners left and right and went serving for the second set 5-2 up.
The Slovak let the nerves come back in the worst moment and immediately fell 0-40 down. She managed to save the first two break points, but Li broke back and went on easily holding.
At the second chance to close the set, Cibulkova hold with an impressive reaction after a bad challenge.
In the third set the Slovak tried to impose the same rhythm that gave her the lead in the second and it seemed to work at first and with the help of a double fault on the break point, she took the early break.
Cibulkova could not keep the momentum going though, and returned the favour by offering a break chance with a double fault. Li immediately took it to level the score and immediately held.
The fourth game has been the most spectacular of the match, Cibulkova started feeling the pressure and served a few double faults, but played out of her mind to save all the five break points she faced and finally held for two all.
In the seventh game, at three all, Li served two break points and handed Cibulkova two break chances, but immediately made up with two good serves and finally closed with an ace.
The missed chance clearly took his toll on the Slovak, who started to rush and suffered one another break, the decisive this time as Li went on closing easily for an important 6-3 4-6 6-3 win.
Her opponent in the semi-final will be Flavia Pennetta, who continues her impressive 2014 after she defeated Sloane Stephens and the win in a mental thriller lasted more than two hours and ended 6-4 5-7 6-4 for the Italian.
In a match rich of twists and sudden turns, Pennetta started very composedly and without shining too bright like she did against Camila Giorgi, still managed to keep Stephens under pressure and take comfortably the first set.
In the second, Stephens tried a reaction and thanks to a bad call, which the Italian did not challenge, captured an early break.
The Italian fought back and despite an erratic serve and a footwork far from the best days, she still obtained an important break and went up 5-4, serving for the match.
At 30-15 the Australian Open quarter-finalist let the tension get to her arm and consequently allowed the young American to break back.
Stephens could not ask for a better chance and exploited the momentum taking the next two games to equalise the set count.
All of a sudden a strong wind started to blow in the court and conditions, which were already difficult, became prohibitive.
Stephens kept the momentum alive and flew easily 3-0 up, but the experienced Italian was not ready to give up.
Pennetta battled against herself, her negative thoughts and a gusty wind to save a break point and then stop the series of games won by the American.
Quite as swiftly as the wind had come, Pennetta started to find more confidence in her shots and despite the wind was making it hardly possible to be aggressive, she started to move Stephens around.
The Italian then found herself a positive streak and tied the score at three all.
Both players managed to hold their serves, but it was clear that every ball could have changed the outcome of this battle.
More than once, Pennetta tried to be the aggressor, but the wind helped Stephens into the rallies, even though she hardly tried to produce any winner in the tempest.
Unexpectedly, the Italian managed to break the serve of Stephens in the ninth game and after the court chance tried to serve once again for the match.
With the help of a couple of lousy shots from the American, she found herself three match points up, but she simply could not close it.
After a fourth match point gone, one could sense the tension in the eyes of both players, but Pennetta suddenly found a terrific down the line backhand winner which set her to a fifth and eventually definitive match point.
When the wind blew the desperate drop-shot attempt of Stephens out wide, Pennetta finally could rise her arms to the sky and cheer for her second semi-final of the year, the first ever for an Italian in Indian Wells.
