Garbine Muguruza is one step closer to reaching the Brazilian Cup finals…

The 20-year-old Venezuelan-Spanish rising tennis star defeated qualifier Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 6-2, 6-7 (1), 6-3 to reach the semifinals at the tournament taking place in Florianopolis, Brazil.

Muguruza, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, will next will play Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, who defeated sixth-seeded Alexandra Cadantu of Romania 6-3, 6-3.

In January, Muguruza defeated former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki at the Australian Open to reach her first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, top-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro advanced to the Brazil Cup semifinals Thursday after No. 5-seeded Monica Niculescu of Romania retired with an apparent right ankle injury.

Niculescu had been struggling to move around the court and at one point lost eight games in a row before pulling out while trailing the Spaniard 4-6, 6-0, 4-1.

The 15th-ranked Navarro will now play third-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic.