In Charleston, Martic upsets Bencic to reach first Premier semifinals

Petra Martic is through to her first WTA Premier-level semifinal. On Friday, the 28-year-old upset No. 6 seed Belinda Bencic, 6-3, 6-4, in the Volvo Car Open quarterfinals.

The No. 16-seeded Martic, who rallied from a set down in her round-of-16 match against American Jessica Pegula, came out strong, handling everything that Bencic threw at her. An early break held up to earn her the first set, and one break was all that was needed to secure the second set, and the match.

The No. 53-ranked Croatian entered Charleston with very little confidence, having only won three matches all season. Two of those victories came at the Australian Open, where she reached the third round before losing to Sloane Stephens. The other win came in Miami two weeks ago.

Martic, a late bloomer—she's endured injuries throughout her career—won her her first ever WTA title at the Oracle Challenger Series in Chicago last September.

"Last season my goal was to win one WTA tournament or Challenger or anything on a WTA tour," Martic said in her post-match interview with Tennis Channel's Steve Weissman. "And I managed in Chicago. This year I would definitely like that number to grow. So, hopefully I'm gonna start here."

Martic will play No. 5 seed Caroline Wozniacki for a spot in the final. The Dane, who is 5-0 against Martic, defeated Maria Sakkari earlier in Friday's second semifinal.