Petra Kvitova crushed the hopes of local favourite Ashleigh Barty with an emphatic 6-1, 6-4 win to reach her second Australian Open semi-final.
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The double Wimbledon champion silenced home fans at a packed Rod Laver Arena, who had barely settled in their seats before the first set was over in a dizzying 27 minutes.
The eighth-seeded Czech faced stiffer resistance from Barty in the second but broke the 22-year-old in the ninth game before sealing victory when Barty, seeded 15th, netted a return.
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Kvitova, who reached the 2012 semi-finals at Melbourne Park, returned to the last four of a Grand Slam for the first time since claiming her second Wimbledon title in 2014.
It is also her first appearance at the business end of a grand slam since the horrific knife attack she suffered at her home back in December 2016.
Kvitova fought back tears in her on-court interview with Jim Courier as she reflected on her struggles.
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Petra Kvitova
“I didn’t really imagine to be back in this great stadium, it’s great.”
Kvitova will now play unseeded American Danielle Collins for a place in Saturday’s final.
Earlier Collins recovered from dropping the first set to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkov 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Kvitova’s win means Simona Halep will be replaced at the top of the standings on Monday.
The Czech, as well as Osaka, Svitolina, and Pliskova are still in contention.
She said, First of all, sorry guys for beating Ashleigh. I started very well, served well and took the first break. She didn’t give me anything for free in the second set and I definitely had to fight until the end.
Ash has great slice from the backhand, so I had to be very low and hit it as well as I could. I needed to play well from the backhand as well.
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Ashleigh Barty
