The score finished 2:6, 7:6 (2), 7:5 after over two-and-a-half hours in Eastbourne, the South Coast town hosting the women's warm-up to Wimbledon competition, as per tradition.

Kontaveit took an early lead in set one, winning the first two games, but went on to drop every single game thereafter, having her service broken three times in the process.

In set two, things were more even, with Kontaveit having two set balls in game 10, though failing to capitalize on either. A tie-break situation soon followed, one which the Estonian dominated, 7:2.

The decisive set also saw Kontaveit, 25, from Tallinn, ranked 27th in the world, and Golubic, ranked 72nd, evenly matched. The Estonian was behind in games at two points, 2:3 and then 4:5, but denied her opponent any more games after that, to take the set 7:5 and therefore the match.

Kontaveit will face Camila Giorgi (Italy, ranked 75th) who overcame world number four Arina Sabalenka in three sets.

Giorgi had to qualify for the tournament, so will have played even more time than Kontaveit, whose round one encounter Monday was postponed a day, thanks to the English summer weather.

This meant she played round one, two and the quarters on consecutive days; the second match saw her beat world number seven Bianca Andreescu (Canada).

Kontaveit and Giorgi have not played each other before.

The Eastbourne tournament final is scheduled for this Saturday, with Wimbledon opening just two days later. Both Kontaveit and her compatriot Kaia Kanepi are due to play at SW19, though the draw has not yet been announced.

The other semi-finals will pitch the winner of Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) and Daria Kasatkina (Russia) against the winner from Anastasija Sevastova, another Latvian, and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan. The first of these matches was only just getting underway at the time of writing.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!