By Tennis Now | Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Kirsten Flipkens made a fierce final push into the Moscow quarterfinals.

Flipkens broke in both of Dayana Yastremska's final service games sealing a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 Kremlin Cup upset of the fifth seed.

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World No. 120 Flipkens broke five times in all advancing to a quarterfinal clash vs. Belinda Bencic.

The 33-year-old Belgian is through to her fifth quarterfinal of the season. Flipkens is playing for her first semifinal since she was a finalist on the grass of 's-Hertogenbosch in June of 2018.

Earlier, Bencic battled back for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Polona Hercog.

Facing a 0-3 deficit in the decider, Bencic reeled off five games in a row before the Slovenian stopped her slide with a service hold. Bencic converted her second match point to serve out a tense victory. 

The Swiss wild card beat Hercog for the second time in as many meetings with both matches going the distance.

The third-seeded Bencic is playing for her first semifinal since she bowed to eventual-champion Bianca Andreescu in a tight two-set US Open semifinal. Bencic has beaten Flipkens in two of three prior meetings.

In an all-Russian clash, Ekaterina Alexandrova pounded past wild card Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-1. Alexandrova won five straight games to open and closed the match on a five-game run.

The eighth-seeded Russian will play either fourth-seeded Donna Vekic or Karolina Muchova for a semifinal spot.