BRISBANE, Australia — Defending champion Karolina Pliskova survived a massive scare from Estonia's Kaia Kanepi to move into the semifinals of the Brisbane International on Thursday. Second seed Pliskova lost the first set to an inspired Kanepi and was down 3-1 in the second before launching an epic comeback, winning 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in two hours and 11 minutes. Pliskova was in imperious form in her demolition of American Catherine Bellis in the last round, but the powerful Kanepi proved a far tougher challenge. The 32-year-old Estonian won in Brisbane in 2012 but 12 months away from the game with injury in 2016-17 saw her ranking plummet and she had to qualify to make the main draw this year. Kanepi looked like joining fellow qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the semifinals as she outplayed Pliskova at her own power game. But she faltered when serving to go to 4-1 in the second set, allowing Pliskova to break back and swing the momentum towards the Czech world No. 4. Pliskova will now play third seed Elena Svitolina for a place in the final after the Ukrainian won an eventful match against British No. 1 Johanna Konta. Svitolina reached the final four when Konta was forced to retire with an injury at 2-3 in the third set. Konta had raced through the first set before Svitolina recovered to take the second in a tiebreak. But Konta felt a problem with her right hip in her first service game of the third set and opted to withdraw, with Svitolina winning 1-6, 7-6 (8/6), 3-2. Svitolina, tipped as a possible winner of the Australian Open, was pleased at her recovery after a sluggish start. The second semifinal will be between Sasnovich and seventh seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia. Sasnovich knocked out 2017 runner-up Alize Cornet of France 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, while Sevastova beat Aleksandra Krunic 6-2, 6-4. Thiem reaches last eight in Doha Top seed Dominic Thiem beat Aljaz Bedene 7-5, 6-4 to book a place in the Qatar Open quarterfinals as all his fellow seeds bowed out in the second round in Doha on Wednesday. Slovenian Bedene saved 12 out of 15 break points to push the Austrian but the world No. 5 survived the test to be the only seed left in the draw, apart from Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who won the event in 2013. Yet world No. 31 Gasquet, the fifth seed, was surprisingly beaten 6-3, 6-4 in the late match by Greece's rising talent Stefanos Tsitsipas, with the 19-year-old from Athens progressing to face Thiem in the next round. Seventh-seeded Fernando Verdasco was defeated 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 by Russian youngster Andrey Rublev while eighth seed Feliciano Lopez suffered a shock 6-4, 7-6(7/2) loss to Bosnia's Mirza Basic, who is ranked 138th in the world. The Spanish duo joined high-ranking players Pablo Carreno Busta, Tomas Berdych, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Filip Krajinovic in exiting the tournament in the early stages. In the quarterfinals, Rublev, 20, will face Croatia's Borna Coric, who ousted Carreno Busta in the first round, while Basic will take on Guido Pella after the Argentine overcame Stefano Travaglia 7-6(7/4) 6-3. French wildcard Gael Monfils beat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3 1-6 6-3 to set up the other last-eight clash with German Peter Gojowczyk. — Agencies