Pliskova weathers Kanepi storm in Brisbane

Karolina Pliskova expects another tough examination in Friday's semi-final after hanging tough against clean-hitting Kaia Kanepi to keep her Brisbane International title defence on track.

The Czech world No.4 looked to have no answer to Kanepi's powerful forehand as the fearless Estonian blasted through her defences to take the first set.

But a frustrated Pliskova didn't panic as the second set went deeper, applying enough constant pressure to eventually break serve and force a decider.

Kanepi's power slowly faded but she didn't pack it in, forcing her rival to earn a semi-final berth in a 3-6 7-5 6-2 win.

"I was little bit surprised in the first set and a half with how she played," Pliskova admitted.

"For that big risk what she was playing, she had almost zero mistakes.

"The only thing I could do was just wait for my chance, and I got it because, obviously, nobody can play like this for two sets or three."

The tournament's second seed will play Ukranian third seed Elina Svitolina on Friday night for a place in the final.

"Yeah, I've been watching on TV; on every channel here you have tennis, so I've been watching some tennis and, yeah, some good matches," she said of her thoughts on her opponent..

"I saw the Svitolina one with (Johanna) Konta, it was a good match.

"From the last time (we played) she did a lot outside the court, on the court so mentally she improved so much.

"So I think it's going to be tough and not easy at all.

It ended 2012 Brisbane champion Kanepi's storming comeback run that featured straight sets wins in three qualifying and two main draw matches.

The 32-year-old struggled with plantar fasciitis in both feet and the energy-zapping Epstein-Barr virus in 2016, barely playing at the top level and dropping outside the world's top 300.

Now ranked 99 and sure to rise higher, the 32-year-old shapes as a massive threat in this month's Australian Open after progressing to the US Open quarters after qualifying last year.