World No.1 Ashleigh Barty has booked a spot in the China Open semi-finals for the first time, beating Petra Kvitova 4-6 6-4 6-3.

Two-time Wimbledon champion and No.7 seed Kvitova went into the quarter-final with a 4-1 head-to-head advantage over Barty.

But Australia’s reigning French Open champion made it two wins in a row over Kvitova in a suspenseful match that lasted 2 hours and 8 minutes in Beijing.

It continued her solid run of form in China after reaching the semi-finals at the Wuhan Open last week.

Barty blasted her way to victory with 31 winners against just 20 unforced errors, while Kvitova fired 36 winners to 28 unforced errors.

The result was determined by success on break points and Barty won half of hers, while Kvitova could only convert two of her seven.

Kvitova grabbed the early lead in the decider after she ended back-to-back points with fierce forehands to claim a service break in the opening game.

But Barty struck back immediately, using outstanding court coverage to draw an error from the Czech and queue up a break point in the next game, which she converted by ending a rally with a forehand winner.

Serving for the match at 5-3, Barty saw a 40-0 lead and her first three match points slip away.

But her fourth opportunity was converted with a sizzling forehand crosscourt winner.