Miami, March 29 (IANS) The Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova defeated Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter-finals, becoming the first woman to make the semi-finals at the Miami Open.

The world No. 3 Pliskova onTuesday got payback against Lucic-Baroni, who defeated her in the Australian Open quarter-finals on January 24, reports Efe.

The 25-year-old Pliskova is having her best run in Miami, where she made the quarter-finals in 2015.

Pliskova had just three unforced errors in the first set and broke Lucic-Baroni three times while being broken twice.

In the second set, the Czech star played defense against an attacking Lucic-Baroni, who had 18 winners.

Earlier, Pliskova had lost against Lucic-Baroni in the quarter-final of 2017 Australian Open by 4-6 6-3 4-6.

Though, Pilskova was looking confident about her game plan as she told reporters after winning the latest match, “I played much better here than I was playing (in Melbourne). Also, the conditions here are different, and she was playing better tennis there because it was faster. It suited her better in Australia.

“So definitely, I was feeling more confident with this match. I had a different game plan today.”

Pliskova now has a 4-3 record against the Croatian veteran.

Lucic-Baroni entered the tournament ranked 29th in the world and will crack the top 25 after her solid run in Miami.

(With Inputs from IANS)