Garbine Muguruza and Roberta Vinci in Wuhan

Vinci, who ended the calendar grand slam ambitions of Venus' sister Serena Williams at the U.S. Open semi-finals last month, was delighted to follow up her upset win over third seed Petra Kvitova in the previous round, with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 win over Karolina Pliskova.

"Today was another tough match. Karolina plays so good, and so flat, so for me it was difficult especially at the beginning," said the 32-year-old who lost the U.S. Open final to compatriot Flavia Pennetta.

"But I served well and I'm really happy I'm in the semi-finals here in Wuhan for the first time. It's incredible here, a nice city, nice court, it's just really exciting for me."

Wimbledon runner-up Muguruza had a far easier afternoon as she swept past Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-2 6-2.

The heavy-hitting 21-year-old Spaniard can go as high as world number four depending on results this week but her focus was simply on her form.

"It was a great match for me," she said. "You don't play at this level every day so for me it was great to be playing like this."

Muguruza next plays German sixth seed Angelique Kerber or American Coco Vandeweghe.