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Indian Wells: Williams withdraws; Jankovic tops Lisicki

March 21, 2015 07:33 IST

Serena Williams of USA talks to the media

Serena Williams of USA talks to the media after announcing her retirement with an injury before her semi final match against Simona Halep of Romania. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

Serena Williams withdrew before the start of her BNP Paribas Open semi-final on Friday due to a knee problem, cutting short her return to the event following a 14-year boycott.

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Williams, who has been absent from Indian Wells since winning the event in 2001 when she says she suffered racist abuse from fans, said she would not be able to give her all for the remainder of the tournament and decided to pull out.

"I was on the practice court on Friday and everything was going well, but literally the last two minutes I went for a serve and felt a super sharp pain in my knee," Williams said in a news conference.

"I even did an injection. I've never done an injection before. If this were any other event I probably wouldn't have considered it. But I wanted to give 200 percent. It just wasn't meant to be this year."

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia is congratulated by Sabine Lisicki of Germany. Photograph: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

The decision put her opponent, Simona Halep, into the final against Jelena Jankovic, who beat Sabine Lisicki in three sets.

In the other semi-final, Lisicki, who endured a three-set quarter-final nailbiter on Thursday, took the first set 6-3 before Jankovic stormed back, the Serb taking the remaining sets 6-3, 6-1.

Source: REUTERS
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