WTA Quebec City - Mirjana Lucic vs. Kirsten Flipkens (19:00 BST)

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by Crunch Sports Staff

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Kirsten Flipkens (credit: Alex Trautwig/AFP/Getty Images)

Mirjana Lucic takes on Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens this afternoon in the second round of the 2012 Bell Challenge in Quebec City (19:00 BST start).

Lucic didn't make the most convincing start to her Bell Challenge campaign this week as she scraped past Canadian qualifier Heidi El Tabakh in three sets, 6-4 3-6 7-6.

The closeness of the match isn't necessarily bad news for the Croatian, however, as the carpet courts are likely to encourage a few surprise results, and in fairness she did well to defy a Canadian player in front of a home crowd.

Less encouraging for Lucic though is the fact that her serve looked fairly vulnerable. She made nine double faults and had her second serve picked off quite effectively by El Tabakh. We'll need to see a better effort from Lucic today or she's likely to struggle against Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens.

Flipkens didn't seem to experience so many problems in round one, as she clinched a dramatic 2-6 6-3 7-5 victory over top seed Dominika Cibulkova. The win has opened the draw right up, which could bode very well for the in-form 26-year-old.

Flipkens had been playing with Kim Clijsters in doubles of late, and the guidance of the former world No. 1 seems to have left its mark on her understudy. Flipkens' serve actually looked fairly vulnerable, but she did a great job on return, which helped her to six breaks of serve against the Slovakian.

The Belgian appears to be the form player so she'll be the favourite heading into her meeting with Lucic. Flipkens has been recording great results in lower tier events, and the Bell Challenge could be the perfect opportunity for her to break the top hundred.

Prediction: Flipkens in three.

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