In the run-up to the inevitable tiebreak, it was Pera who had come up with moments of magic, with a running forehand pass in the 10th game drawing gasps, while Siniakova had been clinging on all the way. But with her back to the wall, the World No.38 began to take over the highlights reel . Flinging herself around the court to desperately retrieve the ball, Siniakova would finish one stellar defensive point with a winning pass and another by twisting herself in the air to put away a high backhand volley. Down two match points, another bold net foray paid off as Pera was unable to make her own pass – and on her own set point, Siniakova again used the slice to drag her opponent around the court and eliciting the error.

If Siniakova’s serve had been her weakness in the first two sets as she racked up six double faults, it would prove to be the star of the decider. The two-time WTA titlist – who had stunned the world this May by upsetting World No.1 Naomi Osaka in the third round of Roland Garros – now began to tally service winners and aces, finishing with eight of the latter. This made for a succession of comfortable holds – as well as a handy way to save two break points in the fifth game, the only danger point behind her delivery in the third set.

Pera, by contrast, was now struggling to maintain her consistency off the ground, with impatient errors gifting a succession of cheap points to Siniakova – and, in the fourth game, the break. The 24-year-old, who had been bidding for her fourth semifinal of the season following Prague, Lausanne and Jurmala, found no way back from there, and Siniakova would finish with the flourish of a backhand pass to seal a love hold.

Next up for Siniakova, who will be looking to make her first final since Shenzhen 2018, will be an unseeded but in-form opponent: either Washington runner-up Camila Giorgi or Lausanne finalist Alizé Cornet.