Monica Puig reaches semi-finals in Eastbourne

In what was the only match to start and finish on a rain-interrupted day on the south coast, Puig edged a tight contest 7-6 (8/6) 4-6 6-3 to move into the last four.

Puig, ranked 43rd in the world and 10 places below Mladenovic, will now face either top seed Agnieszka Radwanska or Dominika Cibulkova for a place in the final.

Radwanska looks the more likely to go through as she led the Slovakian 6-4 3-2 before play had to be suspended.

The world number three lost to Cibulkova in Madrid earlier this year but now stands three games away from progress, as the Pole finalises her preparations for Wimbledon next week.

In the other half of the draw, Karolina Pliskova also looks in a strong position after she finished off Wednesday's match against Misaki Doi to win 6-2 6-4 before storming into an early 4-0 lead against Elena Vesnina.

The winner of Pliskova and Vesnina will be up against either Britain's Johanna Konta or Russia's Ekaterina Makarova, whose match had to be postponed.

Makarova had earlier sealed her spot in the quarter-finals by beating Germany's Andrea Petkovic 3-6 6-4 6-0.