Melbourne, Jan 24 (IANS): World No.1 Simona Halep of Romania on Wednesday defeated the Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-2 to reach her first Australian Open semifinals.

It took top seed Halep one hour and 13 minutes to overcome sixth seed Pliskova in the quarterfinals, reports Efe.

"It's really nice to be in the semis," the 26-year-old said.

"For sure it wasn't my best start but I just knew I have to restart to stop missing and moving better, which I did pretty well. Then I started to open the court and play my style. I served well so everything went pretty well for me," she added.

Halep earned her sixth win in eight career matches against Pliskova, a former World No.1, now ranked sixth.

The two-time French Open finalist moves on to the semifinals where she will play Angelique Kerber after the German eliminated American Madison Keys 6-1, 6-2.

Kerber, a former World No. 1 and winner of the Australian Open title in 2016, needed just 51 minutes to advance into the last four, finishing with 13 winners and six breaks of serve out of nine.