Belinda Bencic is on the verge of qualifying for the WTA Finals after beating Kirsten Flipkens 7-6(8) 6-1 to reach the Kremlin Cup semi-finals.
The Swiss player is one win away from booking her place at the season-ending finale in Shenzhen after edging out her Belgian opponent.
This is after Kiki Bertens’ hopes were dashed after losing her quarter-final in Moscow to Kristina Mladenovic 6-4 2-6 6-1.
Now Bencic must beat Mladenovic tomorrow in order to qualify for the WTA Finals automatically, which would be her first appearance at the end.
Although it was an excellent victory for the second seed, it wasn’t without its difficulties as she had to withstand some early Flipkens pressure.
The unique style of the Belgian veteran has caused many players trouble in the past and Bencic was no exception as the latter failed to problem solve in the early stages.
An early break of serve for a 3-1 lead saw Flipkens in the driving seat as errors flowed from the Swiss’ racket very quickly.
However the US Open semi-finalist managed to overcome early troubles and broke back in the seventh game on her fourth break point of the game.
From then on both players managed to land more first serves and hold serve more efficiently until the latter stages of the set where Bencic would break and serve for the opening set at 6-5.
Despite the break the world number ten couldn’t hold on as she lost her serve to 15 as the opening set would be decided by a tiebreak.
The top 10 player lost a 5-2 lead and was forced to save four set points in the tiebreaker as momentum was on the verge falling Flipkens way.
But, Bencic showed determination and fighting spirit to turn it around and win the first 7-6(8) in a 67 minutes long set.
What a wild ride!@BelindaBencic battles through the tiebreak 7-6(8) in just over an hour to claim the first set.#KremlinCup pic.twitter.com/sSX3yksZi3
— wta (@WTA) October 18, 2019
Once the first set was wrapped up, Bencic found her feet and dominated the second set with the damage being done in the opening four games.
A crucial win was sealed with a 16th winner of the day as she booked her place in the last four in Moscow with a 30 minute second set.
Now Kristina Mladenovic is all that stands in the way of the Swiss from making a first appearance at the WTA Finals in her career.
