Wozniacki beaten by Flipkens, joins exodus of seeds in Linz

LINZ, Austria — Caroline Wozniacki became the latest seeded player to suffer an early exit at the Generali Ladies, losing to Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-4 in the second round on Thursday (early Friday in Manila).

Wozniacki's defeat left the Austrian indoor event without any of its top-six seeded women in the quarterfinals.

The 11th-ranked Wozniacki, who was seeded second, struggled to find rhythm against Flipkens, who played more aggressively and alternated strong forehands with drop shot backhands.

"I have played incredibly well," Flipkens said. "I was injured after the U.S. Open and to come back and beat Caroline this way, you have to play your best tennis. Everything I did turned out to be good."

Flipkens next takes on Denisa Allertova, who defeated fellow Czech player Barbora Strycova 7-6 (0), 5-7, 6-4 in two hours, 46 minutes.

Allertova, who reached the final in Guangzhou last month, broke the eighth-seeded Strycova's serve six times in total but missed 15 more break points.

Seventh-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova became the highest ranked player left after defeating Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-4, 6-0.

The 29th-ranked Russian was broken when serving for the first set at 5-2 before taking seven straight games to close out the win.

In her sixth semifinal of the season, Pavlyuchenkova will play 99th-ranked Serbian qualifier Aleksandra Krunic, who beat Mona Barthel of Germany 7-6 (6), 6-3.

Also, Johanna Larsson of Sweden advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 6-4, 7-6 (2).

The 59th-ranked Larsson rallied from 4-2 down to take the opening set. She saved a set point at 5-4 in the second before wrapping up the win on her third match point.