Three French players reached the semi-finals of a WTA tournament for the first time in a decade at the Internationaux de Strasbourg.
Caroline Garcia was given a walkover after defending champion Sam Stosur withdrew because of a wrist injury while Kristina Mladenovic and Virginie Razzano both won their matches.
Fourth seed Mladenovic defeated Alla Kudryavtseva 6-4 6-2 while lucky loser Razzano continued her fine run with a 6-1 3-6 6-1 victory over seventh seed Elena Vesnina.
Pauline Parmentier was unable to make it a French clean sweep, going down 6-0 6-1 to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who last reached the semi-finals in Strasbourg 19 years ago.
Home players also dominated at the Nurnburger Versicherungs Cup in Germany.
Only one set was completed in the first two matches of the day, with Lesia Tsurenko giving Julia Goerges a walkover before Irina Falconi pulled out trailing Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens 6-1 0-1 after spraining her ankle.
But third seed Annika Beck and fellow German Anna-Lena Friedsam made up for that with a lengthy battle that Beck eventually won 7-6 (8/6) 2-6 6-2.
The final last-eight clash between Varvara Lepchenko and Mariana Duque-Marino was postponed due to darkness, with rain delaying proceedings earlier in the day.
Source: PA
