TENNIS – Jelena Jankovic got through to the semifinal after Lesia Tsurenko was forced to withdraw because of a foot injury while the Serbian player was leading 6-1 4-1. Tsurenko hurt her ankle when she beat Eugenie Bouchard. Diego Sampaolo
In the semifinal Jankovic will take on Sabine Lisicki who battled past Flavia Pennetta 5-4 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-4) in two hours and 40 minutes. The defending champion fended off a match point in the tenth game of the second set. Lisicki saved three match points in the 10th game of the third set to get through to her first semifinal of the year.
After clinching the opening set with 6-4 Lisicki fought back from 1-3 to take a 5-4 lead in the second set earning a match point. Pennetta won one of her best points of the match to save the match point before clinching the second set at the tie-break.
Pennetta brought up three match points while Lisicki was serving at 4-5. The German saved them with two serves and a huge forehand before clinching the win with an ace on her match point.
Jenkovic lead 4-1 over Lisicki in their head-to-head matches. In all her four wins over the German Jankovic
– Halep and Serena Williams to re-match in the semifinals
Serena Williams will play in the other semifinal against Simona Halep in a re-match of last year’s WTA Championships final in Singapore. On that occasion Williams won 6-3 6-0 taking a re-match a few days after losing 6-2 6-0 in the round robin.
Williams has made a successful come-back to Indian Wells after 14 years of absence with three wins against Monica Niculescu, Sloane Stephens and Timea Bacsinszky in her first three matches this week. Halep beat Daria Gavrilova, Karolina Pliskova and Carla Suarez Navarro in the the first three rounds of this tournament.
