Sabine Lisicki was too much for defending champion Flavia Pennetta on Thursday, saving three match points in a three-set win over the Italian to book her Indian Wells semi-final berth.
Pennetta had hoped to repeat her surprise victory of last year, and managed to save one match point before running out of gas in the marathon quarter-final, won 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4) by the 24th seed from Germany.
Former Wimbledon runner-up Lisicki needed two hours and 40 minutes to fashion the victory, which set up a clash with another former champion, Serbian Jelena Jankovic.
Earlier, fourth seed Andy Murray set a record for Open Era wins by a British man with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Feliciano Lopez to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells.
Murray booked showdown with defending champion Novak Djokovic, who won his quarter-final in a walkover when Australian Bernard Tomic withdrew from their scheduled quarter-final.
Murray now has 497 match wins, surpassing Tim Henman for the most in the Open Era by a British player.
World number one Djokovic advanced to the semis without lifting his racquet after a bad back and painful wisdom tooth forced Tomic to pull out.AFP
