World number one Carlos Alcaraz of Spain ended Australian qualifier Max Purcell's dream run with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win to reach the Cincinnati Open semifinals on Friday.

He will next play Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, who got past lucky loser Alexei Popyrin from Australia 6-1, 7-6(8).

Purcell sealed the first set with an unreturnable serve but Alcaraz sent a quick reminder of why he is the world's best as he won the first three games of a speedy second set, where he dropped only two of his first-serve points.

Down a break in the third, Purcell put up a fight to fend off four break points in an epic third game before neutralizing Alcaraz's mighty forehand to break back in the fourth.

Alcaraz kept his composure and broke Purcell to love in the ninth game before sealing the victory in the next game with an ace.

Meanwhile, world number one Iga Swiatek of Poland downed Czech 10th seed Marketa Vondrousova 7-6(3), 6-1, breaking the Wimbledon champion five times and saving four of six break points, to set up her next match with local star Coco Gauff, who beat Italian qualifier Jasmine Paolini.

Vondrousova built a 5-3 lead, dropping only three points on serve, but was denied on her next two serves before Swaitek ran away with the tiebreaker.

Swiatek found a higher gear in the second, feasting on Vondrousova's serve and breaking three times, including in the final game when she wrapped up the 91-minute match with a forehand down the line that the Czech was unable to chase down.

The other women's singles semifinal will take place between unseeded Czech Karolina Muchova, who only needed 11 minutes to advance when her opponent quit due to injury, and Belarusian second seed Aryna Sabalenka, who outclassed Tunisian fifth seed Ons Jabeur, for what will be a rematch of this year's Roland Garros semifinal.

(With input from Reuters)