Serena Williams tested by Sabine Lisicki in WTA Miami quarter-finals

Serena Williams registered her 700th victory on the WTA Tour, as she booked her spot in the semi-finals of the Miami Open following a hard-fought battle with Sabine Lisicki.

The world No 1 made it through 7-6 (7-4) 1-6 6-3 in just over two hours against the No 27 seed from Germany.

Lisicki, who was meeting Williams for the first time since she beat her in the last 16 of Wimbledon two years ago, missed a set point in game 12 of the opening set before slipping 1-4 behind in the tie-break which the American secured 7-4.

However, Williams lost all three of her service games in the second set which allowed Lisicki to level matters after reeling off six games in a row at Crandon Park Tennis Centre.

But the 33-year-old American steeled herself at the start of the decider as she raced into a 3-0 lead.

From there, Lisicki, 25, was never able to break back with the 19-time Grand Slam champion sealing her win by serving out to love.

Williams is the eighth player to win 700 matches on Tour but she has a long way to go before getting anywhere near Martina Navratilova, who tops the list with 1,442.

Serena was presented with a cake to celebrate the milestone and, after beating her fellow resident of Florida, said: "I know today wasn't my best day.

"I just told myself, ‘I'm not serving the way I normally serve and hitting the way I normally would hit,’ so at this point all I can do is just fight and try to give 200 per-cent instead of 100 per-cent.”