Bartoli, 26, won the final three games of a topsy-turvy first set in which both players struggled to find consistency, taking it 6-4.

The second set was a tighter affair with Ivanovic showing glimpses of the play that took her to world number one, occasionally dominating the points with her powerful forehand. The Serb was unable to find the lines when it mattered though, with Bartoli proving the more consistent of the two on the big points.

At 5-6 down in the second set Ivanovic reeled off four straight points to break Bartoli to love and force a tie-break, but it was the 26 year-old French woman who managed to pull through in the end with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) victory.

"I'm super-excited and so happy to be in the semi-finals at Indian Wells," 15th seed Bartoli said courtside after beating the 19th-seeded Serb for a third time in seven meetings.

"I really took the bit of energy I still have in my body to try to save it. I knew I had to finish in two sets, because three would have been very difficult."

In the other quarter-final of the women’s draw, Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium, the 23rd seed, upset 10th-seeded Sharar Peer of Israel 6-3, 6-3 to advance into the semi-finals and face Bartoli for a place in the final.