Ashleigh Barty has claimed the biggest scalp of her tennis career in beating world No.4 Karolina Pliskova in the quarter-finals of the WTA’s Wuhan Open.

The 21-year-old Australian fought back from dropping the first set to win 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) when the third-seeded Czech double-faulted on Barty’s fourth match point.

Barty — who started the year ranked 271 in the world and will move into the top 30 with Thursday’s win — will face world No.1 Garbine Muguruza or French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the semi-finals.