Marion Bartoli advanced to the semi-finals of the Paris Open after a 4-6 6-4 7-6 win over Roberta Vinci on Friday evening.

The French player found the opening set tough against Vinci, with the 28-year-old serving stronger in the early stages. Vinci survived some difficult moments to take the opening set, and looked in control of the match.

Vinci looked on course to secure the second set in comfortable fashion, but Bartoli fought back from a break down to move level in the match.

The final set started with both players holding serve, but Vinci broke once more late in the third to storm into a 5-2 lead, before Bartoli twice broke back to move level at 5-5.

Bartoli held her serve to move 6-5 ahead but Vinci fought back to move the match into a tie-break. The match, which lasted 2 hours 40 minutes, was eventually won by Bartoli who secured a 7-2 tie-break win.

Bartoli will face Klara Zakopalova, who beat Julia Goerges earlier in the day, for a place in the final.