India's rising tennis star Sania Mirza shocked top seed Maria Fernanda Alves of Brazil 7-5, 6-3 to enter the semi-finals of the US $10,000 Rabat ITF Women's world ranking tournament being played at Morocco.
In a battle that lasted a little over two hours, the Hyderabad girl subdued the Brazilian ace to register the biggest singles victory of her career.
The 17-year-old got off to a flying start, taking a 3-0 lead in the first set before strong tactical play by her opponent saw the scores tied at 5-5.
Sania then held her serve and broke with two trademark forehands to capture the first set at 7-5.
In the second set, the Indian ace broke early to take a comfortable 4-2 lead. Both players held thereafter before Sania served out the set and match at 6-3.
Sania now meets third seed Carla Tlene of Brazil in the semi-finals.
In the doubles semi-finals, Sania and her Slovak partner, Katarina Kachlikova, went down 7-5, 3-6, 1-6 to the Brazilian pair of Alves and Carle Tiene.