Halep First Into Final Four

       Halep  va  disputa  una  dintre  semifinale   cu Serena Williams

   Carla Suárez Navarro was too tough in the first set, but Simona Halep took it to a whole new level in the next two sets to become the first player through to the semifinals.

    Simona Halep took it to a whole new level after dropping the first set to make it past Carla Suárez Navarro and become the first player into the BNP Paribas Open semifinals.

    Suárez Navarro could do no wrong in the opening stages of the match, winning the first four games in a row to go up 4-0, and even though Halep clawed her way back to 4-all, and then 5-all, Suárez Navarro regrouped just in time, closing out the 51-minute opening frame with a big forehand winner, 7-5.

That's where she was stopped in her tracks, though. The No.12-seeded Suárez Navarro watched on as the No.3-seeded Halep stormed through the next two sets in just 63 minutes to prevail, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.

Halep finished the match off in style, blasting a big ace - her 28th winner of the match.

"She was opening the court pretty well with the angles, and it's really tough to play and hit the balls from wide in the court, so I knew I had to start playing more aggressively and hit more into the court," Halep explained in her on-court interview after the match. "I just tried to relax my body and my mind, fight for every point and play my best. And I'm happy to be in the semifinals here again.

"I'm looking forward to maybe playing the No.1 in the world again now!"

The World No.3 was referring to her potential semifinal opponent, Serena Williams, and it became a reality - the No.1-seeded Williams beat No.27 seed Timea Bacsinszky in the night-time quarterfinal.

Williams leads Halep in their head-to-head series, 4-1, but their two meetings at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global last year are perhaps the most relevant - Halep beat Williams in the round robin, 6-0, 6-2, the equal-worst loss of Williams' career in terms of games won, but the American rebounded in a big way when they met again in the final a few days later, 6-3, 6-0.

"Serena is Serena. She's No.1 in the world. She's very strong," Halep said.

"It was a big day for me when I beat her. The biggest day, let's say. I learned that if I have the courage to go on court and just think I can win it, I can do it. If I'm nervous and I have emotions, it's much more difficult to play against her. You just have to believe and try your best, and try everything to win."

**   WTA