Third seed Alize Cornet was pushed all the way by Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino before booking her place in the last four of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel .
The Frenchwoman needed two tie-breaks to come from a set down and beat seventh seed Dominguez Lino 3-6 7-6 (12/10) 7-6 (7/2) in a match which took three hours and 33 minutes and featured 18 breaks of serve.
Cornet will next play play top seed Sara Errani of Italy, who overcame Holland’s Kiki Bertens 6-4 6-4.
The other semi-final will be an all-Spanish affair between second seed Carla Suarez Navarro and Silvia Soler-Espinosa, both of whom beat Italians to progress.
Suarez Navarro overcame sixth seed Francesca Schiavone 6-7 (5/7) 6-4 6-2, while Soler-Espinosa was a 6-2 6-2 winner against Karin Knapp.