SANTA PONSA/CALVIA, June 18, 2016

Two seeded players made it into the semi-finals of the €250,000 WTA Mallorca Open. The tournament’s number six Caroline Garcia upset third seed Ana Ivanovic 7-6, 5-7, 6-3. The world number 39 from France sent down nine aces, winning69% of her first service points to celebrate her fourth victory over the Serbian in the pair’s fifth tour meeting.

“I had so many opportunities, but I stayed positive even when I’d lose my advantage,” Garcia said in her post-match press conference. “It’s good to win matches like this against a big player. I was down in the tie-break and had no choice but to go for it and take the opportunity before she could.”

Garcia will next take on Kirsten Flipkens, who ended the winning streak of qualifier Veronica Cepede Royg from Paraguay 7-5, 6-3.

“It’s a good test for me because she loves grass. I played her a couple weeks ago on clay, so it’ll be much different. She has the shots to play on this surface, so I will have to be aggressive and put the pressure on her,” Garcia added.

Flipkens was happy with her performance.

“It was warm today but I had a good match today,” the Belgian said afterwards. “I think she started off really well and at the beginning it was really tough to play my game. But I got into the match better and better, serving well.

“For sure, she was in good shape coming out of qualifying, so I needed to see how her game was. She got an early break, so it was important for me to break her back when she was serving for the set. I was always winning the first point on her serve, but it was a matter of getting into those second and third points.

Second seed Jelena Jankovic defeated Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-3. The 31-year-old from Belgrade converted five of her 11 break points to seal victory in one hour and 18 minutes. Jankovic will play Anastasija Sevastova in the stage of the final four. The 26-year-old from Latvia beat Mariana Duque-Marino 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 52 minutes.