Caroline Garcia, 35th in the world, qualified for the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 Cincinnati tournament, the last big repetition on hard court before the US Open, beating the American Jessica Pegula (6-1, 7-5), Friday.
The 28-year-old Frenchwoman, looking for a third title this year, which would be the 11th of her career, will play against Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (7th) to try to reach the final of this tournament for the first time.
Coming from the qualifications, Garcia had already achieved the good performance of beating the world number 3 Maria Sakkari in the 2nd round and the Belgian Elise Mertens (33rd) in the 8th.
At the end of July, she had already offered the scalp of the world number 1 Iga Swiatek in Warsaw.
Aggressive and precise in the exchanges, full of confidence and effective on the return (59% of the points won), Garcia was intractable in the first set, pocketed in just 28 minutes.
The second set was much tighter, neither player leaving the slightest opportunity to get broken until the 11th game. Garcia then released powerful returns on opposing second balls, which forced Pegula to foul.
It only remained for her to close the deal on her serve, which she did without trembling after 1h13, to equalize with two victories everywhere in their face-to-face.
The Frenchwoman, who has two WTA 1000s to her credit, gleaned in Beijing and Tokyo in 2017, had not reached the last four of an event in this category for four years.
A performance that confirms its good trajectory this summer, after years of irregular results, as evidenced by the two titles won in June and July (Bad Homburg and Warsaw).
Her career in Cincinnati should also allow her to move up the world rankings, with the prospect of being seeded at the US Open (August 29-September 11) where she never went beyond the 3rd round.
An adventure in Ohio that she can make even more beautiful on Saturday if she passes the Aryna Sabalenka obstacle.
The Belarusian, who dismissed 6-4, 7-6 (7/1) the Chinese Shuai Zhang (44th), leads two victories to one in their confrontations.
SEE ALSO -
Neymar's first double this season against Montpellier (5-2)