Kuznetsova to meet Vesnina in final

Kuznetsova played exceptional defence and used her strong serve and a varied groundstroke attack to edge third seed Karolina Pliskova 7-6(5) 7-6(2) in a tense showdown following Vesnina’s 6-3 6-4 win over Kristina Mladenovic. 

The 31-year-old eighth seed Kuznetsova rose to the occasion in the tiebreakers, storming out to a 6-2 lead in each. 

Nerves struck in the first-set decider as she netted two backhands and produced an embarrassing double fault that made it 6-5 before rifling a forehand passing winner to end it. 

There were no dramas after taking the big tiebreak lead in the second set and she raced along the baseline for another retrieval that induced a wide forehand from the disgusted Czech, who flung down her racket as Kuznetsova rejoiced.

Jack Sock kept American hopes alive at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday by notching his biggest career win. 

The 24-year-old edged No 4 seed Kei Nishikori for his first top-5 win in eight tries, and booked his spot in the semifinals of a Masters 1000 semifinal for the first time ever. 

Sock will meet 18time major champion Roger Federer in the semi-final. 

Earlier, suspected food poisoning forced Nick Kyrgios to pull out of his much anticipated quarter-finals showdown with Federer.