Harriet Dart reached her first semi-final on the WTA Tour with victory over Spain’s Nuria Parrizas-Diaz at the Transylvania Open.

The British number three, who came through qualifying at the event in Cluj, Romania, won 6-3 6-2.

Dart, 27, will face Czech former world number one Karolina Pliskova, who beat Italy’s Sara Errani 6-2 6-0, next.

She will rise to a provisional 92nd in the world rankings, eight places shy of her career best of 84th.

Dart had lost her four previous WTA Tour quarter-finals, all coming on British grass.

Having lost to Parrizas-Diaz in the final of January’s second-tier Canberra Open, Dart got off to a shaky start against the Spaniard when she was broken in the opening game by her unseeded opponent.

But she immediately broke back to start a winning run of four successive games, before forcing Parrizas-Diaz to save four break points to hold serve.

After seeing out the opening set at the first opportunity, Dart proceeded to go a double break up at the start of the second.

She and Parrizas-Diaz traded further breaks before the Briton sealed her progression to the last four on her second match point.

“I’m really excited to keep it going,” said Dart.

“I don’t think either of us played particularly good tennis, I think both of us were a bit nervous.

“I was just happy that I fought really hard, kept my head together and managed to take the close games and the big moments.”