By Chris Oddo | Wednesday, April 1, 2015

There were some of the elongated, angular rallies that many expected from Simona Halep and a suddenly surging Sloane Stephens on Wednesday night in Miami, but mostly there was more affirmative proof that Halep’s star has risen far beyond that of Stephen’s, and the salient notion that the Romanian has no intention of giving back any ground.

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Halep’s 6-1, 7-5 victory over Stephens sets up a to-die-for semifinal clash between the tour’s two hottest players on Thursday. Halep, winner of 14 straight, will next face Serena Williams, winner of 19 straight and still undefeated for 2015.

Though Stephens rallied, showing heart and grit as she fought back from a set and 3-0 down to lead 4-3 and 5-4, Halep surged to the finish, taking the final three games to end Stephens’ second deep run in as many events.

“Obviously playing the No. 3 player in the world is always going to be tough,” Stephens said, “so I was just happy that at the middle of the second set I was able to come back and compete and just fight really hard and just make her play a lot of balls at the end.”

Interestingly enough, it was Halep who claimed the last victory over Serena Williams last year at the WTA Championships in Singapore, but Williams would respond just a few days later to reassert her dominance over Halep and everyone else in women’s tennis by defeating the Romanian for the title.

“I won against her just one match,” said Halep, who earlier in the week said she can’t seriously think about becoming No. 1 in the world when Serena Williams is still such a formidable presence in the women’s game. “You know, I expect really tough match because she's the best player in the world. She has a lot of experience.”

Williams owns a 4-1 career edge over Halep, but the 6-0, 6-2 scoreline of Halep’s win over Williams in Singapore in their second-to-last meeting has many wondering if the rivalry hasn’t hit a new level that will see Halep as willing and dangerous participant rather than just a spectator that hopes Williams will be off her game.

“We’ve been looking for a rival for Serena at the top,” said Mary Joe Fernandez, while commentating for ESPN. “Will she be the one?”

If their split decision in Singapore was indeed the beginning of a heated rivalry, Halep isn’t letting on. "But when Serena is No.1, you don't really want to think you can be No.1,” she said. “It's tough to think about that when she's still playing."

Don’t be fooled by the Romanian's humility: Halep relishes the opportunity to play Williams, isn’t afraid, and was palpably disappointed two weeks ago at Indian Wells when an injury forced Williams to pull out of their heavily anticipated semifinal.

“You know, I'm not afraid to play against them,” Halep said, when asked about facing the top two players in the world at Indian Wells. “When I came here, after my first match I said that I want to play in semifinals with Serena again, because I wanted to see where I am and how I stay on court. I didn't have the chance. I was so sorry for her because of injury.”

She’ll have her chance on Thursday, when the pair meet in the second match of the Miami Open night session.

After her win over Sabine Lisicki, Williams says she too was disappointed not to be able to meet Halep at Indian Wells. “I look forward to it because I didn't get to play her last time,” Williams said. “I was really disappointed to not be able to play and just not even be close to 100 percent.”