Maria Sakkari has reached her first WTA 1000 final after four previous semi-final defeats ©Getty Images

Greece’s Maria Sakkari defeated defending champion Paula Badosa of Spain in three sets to reach the women's singles final of the Indian Wells Masters, moving her within one victory of the biggest title of her career.

The world number six advanced to her first Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 final with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Badosa at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California in the United States.

She will next face Poland's world number four Iga Świątek who extended her winning run to 10 matches with a 7-6, 6-1 success against 2015 Indian Wells champion Simona Halep of Romania.

"I have a lot of people around me telling me about the semi-finals and that I was not able to get over this hurdle," said Sakkari who has reached seven semi-finals in her last 10 tournaments.

"But I never, ever thought about it because I was always very confident and had a lot of belief that I would just get over it soon and it clicked, I guess."

Sakkari, who had lost her four previous semi-finals at WTA 1000 level, dominated the opening set which she won in just 37 minutes.

Badosa responded well in the second set thanks to strong serving but Sakkari found an extra gear in the decider, winning the last four games to complete victory in one hour and 48 minutes.

Świątek came from a break down in the first set against Halep before saving two break points in the tiebreak to take it 8-6.

Halep moved ahead in the second set, winning three games in a row to establish a 4-2 lead, only for Świątek to come roaring back again to secure victory in just under two hours.

In the men’s singles, Russian Andrey Rublev, who is competing as a neutral, made it 13 victories on the bounce with a 7-5, 6-2 triumph against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov to advance to the semi-finals.

Taylor Fritz has made it into the Indian Wells Masters semi-finals for the second successive year ©Getty Images
Taylor Fritz has made it into the Indian Wells Masters semi-finals for the second successive year ©Getty Images

Rublev, who claimed back-to-back Association of Tennis Professional Tour titles in Marseille and Dubai, lost just seven points on his first serve and was broken once in the match as he proved too strong for Dimitrov.

He has sealed a semi-final meeting with home favourite Taylor Fritz who battled past Miomir Kecmanović of Serbia 7-6, 3-6, 6-1.

Fritz is the first American to reach back-to-back Indian Wells semi-finals since Andy Roddick achieved it in 2010.

"I'm going to have to be a lot more solid from the baseline," said Fritz when looking ahead to his clash with Rublev.

"I'll be leaning into my shots a little bit more, playing a bit better, more aggressive from the baseline. But I've got to keep serving the way I've been serving."

Fritz will take on Rublev tomorrow before the much-anticipated all-Spanish semi-final between 21-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal and talented teenager Carlos Alcaraz.