Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Su-wei pulled off another stunning upset to reach the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Thursday, when she staged a remarkable late rally to beat fourth seed Karolina Pliskova 6-4 1-6 7-5.

The unseeded Hsieh, who knocked Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber out of the last 16 on Wednesday, was on the ropes at 5-1 down in the deciding set against the big-serving Pliskova, but won the last six games to deny the Czech victory.

Hsieh will battle Pliskova's compatriot, two-times Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, for a place in Saturday's final after the second-seeded Czech despatched Slovakian Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4 6-0 in a one-side quarter-final lasting 62 minutes.

Kvitova, who was champion in Dubai in 2013 and runner-up at this year's Australian Open, sent down 21 winners and won 74 percent of her first serve points while making 12 unforced errors as she dominated from start to finish.

"(Hsieh is) a tough and tricky opponent. I played her in Sydney in a really tough match. Will be probably some rallies tomorrow, and I need to be ready for every shot she's going to bring to the game," said Kvitova.

On the other side of the draw, unseeded 21-year-old Swiss Belinda Bencic ousted world number two Simona Halep 4-6 6-4 6-2 in a seesaw quarter-final.

Bencic, ranked 45th,  will face defending champion Elina Svitolina in the other semi-final after the Ukrainian eased past Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 6-3 in the day's last match.

(Frontpage photo shows Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Su-wei in action during Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2019)