Coco Gauff fends off former World No. 1 Pliskova to reach Berlin semifinals

No.7 seed Coco Gauff won the first tour-level grass-court quarterfinal of her career, defeating No.4 seed Karolina Pliskova at the bett1open on Friday.

The 18-year-old American, who reached her first Grand Slam final at the Roland Garros earlier this month, registered a 7-5, 6-4 win over fourth seed Pliskova in just one hour and 37 minutes.

Pliskova started better than Gauff in this one taking an early 2-0 lead. But Gauff used excellent serves and elegant slices to ward off those two, as well as two more, before holding for 5-5 after a difficult 15-minute game.

Czech Pliskova started the second set with a 2-0 lead, but Gauff quickly pulled back on serving with a passing winner. Another lengthy game at 4-4 went Gauff's way, as she flipped her fourth break point of that game to gain a chance to serve out the win. The 18-year-old American took that chance with confidence, hitting her fifth ace of the day to polish off the match.

Earlier, second seed Maria Sakkari also advanced to her first grass-court semi-final after beating Daria Kasatkina for a 6-0, 6-3 victory in just 72 minutes.

Sakkari will next face Belinda Bencic, who defeated Veronika Kudermetova 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in their hard-fought tie, which lasted just over two hours.

( With inputs from ANI )