Garcia defeated the Italian Jasmine Paolini 7: 5, 7: 5 on Friday evening and is thus in the semi-finals in Lyon for the second time in a row. There she meets the winner of the game between Camila Osorio and Linda Noskova on Saturday.

Also in the last four: rising USA's Alycia Parks after a 7-5, 6-2 win over Danka Kovinic; her opponent for the first WTA final is Maryna Zanevska (3:6, 6:1, 6:2 against Anastasia Potapova).

Garcia had had a great run starting in the summer last year, working his way into the top 5 from outside the top 50.

A tournament victory in Lyon would be the first on site for the local hero.

To the single draw in Lyon