Surging Flipkens wins twice to reach Den Bosch semis

'S-HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands - Belgian Kirsten Flipkens got the better of Kiki Bertens for the second time this season at the Libéma Open on Friday, ousting the No.3 seed on the latter's home soil, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-1.

Flipkens ended the Dutchwoman's title defense at the Nürnberger Versicherungscup in three marathon sets ahead of the French Open, and the unseeded World No.60 pulled off a similar epic on the grass to reach her third quarterfinal of the season. 

With Thursday's matches largely interrupted due to rain, the bottom half of the draw found itself a round behind as play began on Friday.

Flipkens was back on court later in the afternoon against No.8 seed Aryna Sabalenka and scored her second victory of the day to move into her second semifinal of the season, 6-4, 6-4. 

In four previous meetings, the pair went the distance to determine a winner, as it was no different on the Den Bosch grass - though Flipkens found herself two points from a straight sets victory over Bertens three times in the second set.

The Belgian No.3 put pressure on Bertens' serve when leading at 5-4 and 6-5, though she never reached match point, and also held a 5-3 lead in the tiebreak before the Dutch No.1 rallied to force a decider. 

After falling behind an early break in the third game of the match, Flipkens won the next four games to assert herself into a 5-2 lead in the opener. Bertens nonetheless rallied for the first time in the match, saving a set point to get back on serve, but she was unable to hold off the Belgian for much longer after falling behind 0-40 in the 10th game.

The second set proved more of the same until the tiebreak in that both players twice traded breaks, but this time it was the Dutch No.1 who was unable to extend her advantage despite breaking in the first and seventh games. 

Despite being unable to wrap up the victory in two, Flipkens was on song in the decider: the 32-year-old broke Bertens three times and lost just five points on her own serve, wrapping up victory in two hours and eight minutes.

In the later match, the Belgian's variety was too much for the 20-year-old Sabalenka in their first career meeting, as the 32-year-old sliced her way through the Belarusian's power game with three breaks of serve in the match. 

Flipkens' victory garaunteed an unseeded finalist out of the bottom half of the draw, as fast-rising Slovak Viktoria Kuzmova ousted Germany's Antonia Lottner - conquerer of No.2 seed Elise Mertens in the second round - in the other quarterfinal.