Renata Zarazua stunned home favourite Beatriz Haddad Maia
Zarazua, who beat Madison Keys in the first round of the US Open last month, triumphed 7-6 (7-5) 6-3
Jelena Ostapenko was knocked out of the Guadalajara Open by Marina Stakusic
Renata Zarazua stunned home favourite Beatriz Haddad Maia to reach the Sao Paulo semi-finals on Friday.
Zarazua, who beat Madison Keys in the first round of the US Open last month, triumphed 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 in two hours and 15 minutes to book her place in the last four.
Haddad Maia initially started strong, with an early break seeing her race into a 3-0 lead, but Zarazua quickly overturned that.
Another break apiece saw them go to a tie-break, when the Mexican managed to pull ahead by winning the final three points.
There was little to split the pair at the start of the second set, but after holding off a break point in the seventh game, Zarazua put together a three-game winning streak to reach the semi-finals, and she has her eye on the prize.
"Now I want to win the tournament," Zarazua told CLAY.
"At times, I said, 'I'm afraid of losing', and then I said to myself, 'No, no, I'm going to be brave and learn from the fact that I was afraid last time and lost'.
"It could have gone the other way, but I think I did what I had to do at the decisive moments."
Elsewhere, Jelena Ostapenko was knocked out of the Guadalajara Open by Marina Stakusic in three sets in their re-arranged round-of-16 tie.
Ostapenko fought back after losing the first set, but in the end, could not find a way past the Canadian, who won 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 in just over two and a half hours.
Data Debrief: Home advantage does not benefit Haddad Maia
Haddad Maia struggled on serve against Zarazua, committing seven double faults and defending just one of the four break points she faced.
Though she won 60% of her first-serve points, that dropped to just 42% on her second serve, compared to Zarazua's 67%.
