Malaysian Open: Svitolina, Bouchard through to semi-finals

Despite a shaky start, the 21-year-old Ukrainian managed to storm past Kucova 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the quarter-finals.

Elina Svitolina smiles at the post match press conference after she defeated Kristina Kucova.

Second seed Elina Svitolina reached the semi-fianals of the Malaysian Open on Friday after knocking out Slovakian Kristina Kucova.

Despite a shaky start, the 21-year-old Ukrainian managed to storm past Kucova 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the quarter-finals.

Third seed Sabine Lisicki of Germany crashed out of the competition after failing to outpace Briton's 26-year-old Naomi Broady.

Broady, ranked 96th in the world, dispatched Lisicki 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 7-5 in a tough match that lasted more than two hours.

She will square off against sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard on Saturday in the semi-finals after the 22-year-old Canadian defeated Turkey's Cagla Buyukakcay 6-1, 6-4 in a match that was delayed by rain.

Bouchard has been trying to put a difficult 2015 behind her and has been showing signs of returning to form recently.

She had cruised to the quarter-finals after trashing Kurumi Nara from Japan 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, China's Lin Zhu also advanced to the semi-finals after beating her fellow countrywoman Qiang Wang 6-3, 6-4.

The Chinese player will meet Svitolina in the semi-finals on Saturday.