Seventh seeded Karolina Pliskova defeated American qualifier Madison Brengle while Karin Knapp has set up an all-Italian semifinal against Camila Giorgi at the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria on Friday.

The recent Korea Open champion never trailed the 24-year-old American in her two set victory and broke Brengle once in both sets to win the match 6-4 6-4 in an hour and 18 minutes.

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Pliskova, 22, will now face another qualifier Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany who came back from a set down to defeat Stefanie Vogele of Switzerland 4-6 6-2 6-3.

Friedsam upset third seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova in the opening rounds and reached her very first WTA Tour semifinal of her career.

In the other side of the quarterfinals matchup, Knapp of Italy won over Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in a seesaw three set battle 6-4 4-6 6-4 to setup an all-Italian semis against Camila Giorgi.

Pironkova, went to the quarters after top seeded Eugenie Bouchard withdrew from the tournament because of injury to her left leg. She is scheduled to participate in the year-ending WTA Tour Finals in Singapore slated to start Oct. 20.

Giorgi had a relatively easy match compared to Knapp as she defeated Marina Erakovic of New Zealand in straight sets 6-3 7-5.

Angelique Kerber is the defending champion but chose not to participate in the event.

In the doubles competition, Pliskova, along with twin sister Kristyna are the defending champions but lost early in the first round against the tandem of Annika Beck of Germany and Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia who are scheduled to face second seeded Erakovic and Anabel Medina Garrigues in the semifinals.

American Anna Tatishvili and Raluca Olaru of Romania have already advanced to the finals after they battled back from a set down to defeat fourth seeded Gabriela Dabrowski and Alicja Rosolska 4-6 7(7)-6(3) 10-6.

TagsKarolina Pliskova, dominika cibulkova, Karin Knapp