Sabine Lisicki has earned a spot in the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-4 [3]6-7 7-6[4] victory over 15th seed Flavia Pennetta at Indian Wells.

A gripping first set saw both players attack the other's serve, but the first break wouldn't arrive until the eighth game when Lisicki went ahead.

Despite seeing her advantage immediately chalked off, the 24th seed claimed another break to take the opener.

An error-strewn second set resulted in four breaks of serve, and it looked like a lack of clinical edge would come back to haunt Lisicki, who wasted a match point before being forced into a tie-break.

Pennetta dominated the tie-break to claim a 7-3 success, and the Italian continued to boss the rallies for much of the third set as Lisicki fought to stay in the contest.

However, Pennetta failed to finish the job in the 10th game when Lisicki offered up three match points on serve, and the decider went to a tie-break.

Lisicki rallied to take control in the latter stages of the match, and the German held her nerve to serve out for a 7-4 triumph and set up a meeting with Jelena Jankovic.