Serena Williams moved to a 17-0 record on the WTA Tour this season, edging out a persistent Simona Halep in their Miami Open semi-final on Thursday.
Seven-time and defending champion Williams is one victory away from a third consecutive Miami title, after seeing off third seed Halep 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in 2 hours, 8 minutes.
Standing in top seed Williams' way of an eighth title is Carla Suarez Navarro, who will play her first WTA Premier final on Saturday and try to add to her lone career singles title.
The 33-year-old Williams, meanwhile, is into her 10th decider in Miami alone and her 84th final overall, chasing a 66th title.
Williams did not have it her own way as she remained unbeaten in 2015. Halep fought back from 5-2 down in the third set, only to falter late.
The world No. 1 dominated the first set, winning 16 of 20 points on serve and breaking Halep twice, but the Romanian's response was fitting of her standing as No. 3 in the world.
Halep created the only break-point chances of the second set, and converted them in the ninth game.
After squaring the match at a set apiece, Halep let slip her momentum as Williams careered to a 3-0, one-break lead early in the decider.
Halep still had her chance to fight back into the match, with a break point in the fifth game, but facing a Williams second serve, the Romanian put her backhand return wide.
Given another chance to break, Halep was more forthcoming in the 10th game, earning two break points when she returned a drop shot with the same treatment to force a Williams error, and the American put a backhand wide to put the deciding set back on serve.
Halep held her nerve to square it at 5-5, and Williams' emotions were there for all to see. She screamed at herself and let crowd noise frustrate her.
Granted, even chair umpire Kader Nouni had to implore the crowd to remain quiet during points, such was the atmosphere.
Williams managed to steady herself emotionally, and broke Halep to love in the 12th game to continue her flawless season.
In men's play, Novak Djokovic overcame another rusty start to down David Ferrer in straight sets and progress to the semifinals.
The world No. 1 had shown signs of susceptibility after dropping sets to Martin Klizan and Alexandr Dolgopolov earlier in the tournament, and Thursday was no exception, as Ferrer began in a flurry.
But trailing 4-1 and serving at 0-30 in the sixth game of the first set, Djokovic arrested the deficit with consummate ease, sealing a 7-5, 7-5 victory.
The eight-time major winner blew his first match point in the 10th game of the second set, and Ferrer leveled at 5-5 to prolong the contest.
But Djokovic broke straight back when Ferrer was unable to return a passing shot, and the top seed showed his emotions on his way to the change of ends.
After opening up a 40-0 lead, Djokovic double-faulted, but sealed progression on match point No. 3 to end the contest after 1 hour, 53 minutes.
Djokovic will face 22nd seed John Isner for a spot in the final of the ATP 1000 hard-court event.
The Serbian leads the ATP World Tour head-to-head meetings with Isner 4-2, beating him in their past three clashes. He also has defeated the American twice in Davis Cup singles.