Jelena Ostapenko won the battle of the grand slam champions against world No.1 Garbine Muguruza to reach the semi-finals of the Wuhan Open and set up a date with Australia’s Ashleigh Barty.
The clash between the French Open and Wimbledon winners was the most highly-anticipated of the day and it did not disappoint.
Muguruza got off to a flying start but Ostapenko turned things around and won the final six games in a 1-6 6-3 6-2 victory – her 19th three-set win of the season.
“I just beat No. 1 and it’s amazing,” Ostapenko said.
Ostapenko is the only seed left in a youthful semi-final line-up.
Barty continued her giant-killing run with her biggest scalp yet, knocking out third seed Karolina Pliskova 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2).
Barty looked like she might have blown her chance when she failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the decider and then slipped to 0-30 serving to stay in the match.
But Pliskova could not take advantage and Barty dominated the tie-break to reach her first WTA Tour Premier 5 semi-final.
“It’s been an amazing season, it really has,” Barty said.
“I was very motivated and worked very hard last year to get back to where we are now.”
It has also been a dream week for Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari, who battled to a 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 win over France’s Alize Cornet.
She will face France’s Caroline Garcia, a 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 winner over Ekaterina Makarova.