American Madison Keys will face two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the semi-finals of the Brisbane International.

Keys was the first player through to the last four at Pat Rafter Arena on Friday with a comfortable 6-4 6-1 win over compatriot Danielle Collins.

She’ll face Kvitova for a place in Sunday’s final after the Czech fifth seed ended the giantkilling run of American qualifier Jennifer Brady.

Kvitova had to wait until the 10th and final game of a hard-fought first set to break Brady’s serve but proved too strong for the 24-year-old in the second set to claim a 6-4 6-2 win.

Despite her exit Brady, who eliminated world No.1 Ashleigh Barty and five-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova on her way to the last eight, will leave Brisbane inside the world top 50 for the first time.

She next heads to South Australia in an attempt to qualify for next week’s Adelaide International.

Kvitova, the 2011 champion in Brisbane, and Keys split a 3-3 head-to-head record heading into their semi-final.

The run to the semi-finals, which included a second-round win over local favourite Samantha Stosur, has been encouraging for 2017 US Open finalist Keys.

“Happy to get a lot of matches in and feel like a lot of what I was working on during off-season is kind of immediately clicking,” she said.

“There’s still some things that I want to do a little bit better, but it’s definitely a great starting point for the year.”

Keys’ win over world No.27 Collins means she moves to No.11 on the world rankings ahead of Saturday’s semi-finals.

The quarter-final action at the Queensland Tennis Centre continues with defending Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka against Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens.

Czech second seed and Brisbane defending champion Karolina Pliskova faces another American in world No.19 Alison Riske in Friday evening’s match.