Kirsten Flipkens

Kirsten Flipkens is a former Belgian professional tennis player who has played on the WTA Tour since 2003.

Kirsten Flipkens was born on January 10, 1986, in Geel, Belgium, as the only child of a car dealer and a housewife. She decided to pursue a career in tennis at the age of 12. Flipkens was a very accomplished junior player. She won the 2002 US Open girls’ doubles title with Elke Clijsters.

This was followed by triumphs at the junior singles events at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2003, beating Anna Chakvetadze and Michaella Krajicek, respectively. The Belgian made her WTA debut in 2003 in Antwerp.

Flipkens won a small number of WTA matches between 2004 and 2008. Very strong results on the ITF Circuit in 2008 saw her rise 259 places in the rankings from 363 to 104. Flipkens made her first two Grand Slam third-round appearances in 2009. The first was at Wimbledon, where she lost to the No. 1 seed Dinara Safina.

She then did the same at the US Open, being knocked out by her compatriot and the eventual champion, Kim Clijsters. Other solid results saw Flipkens end 2009 and 2010 inside the Top 100. After a less successful 2011, Flipkens claimed her sole WTA singles title in 2012. This came in September on the carpet in Quebec.

Her run included a victory against future Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova in the opening round before prevailing 6-1, 7-5 against Lucie Hradecka. Flipkens had her best season in 2013.

She began the year by reaching her first Grand Slam fourth round at the Australian Open, being stopped at that stage by Maria Sharapova. That was followed a few months later by a second WTA final at the Libema Open, in which she lost to Simona Halep.

The 2013 US Open was the scene of Flipkens’ best run at a Grand Slam level. She reached the quarterfinal of the event without dropping a set. Flipkens then beat Petra Kvitova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an epic quarterfinal. Unfortunately, she could not sustain that level and fell 1-6, 2-6 in the semifinal to Marion Bartoli.

The Belgian never quite reached those heights again, but she was still a consistent performer for many years, finishing inside the Top 100 from 2012 to 2020. Flipkens made two more finals in 2016 in Monterrey and at the Rosmalen Championships again in 2018, but finished as the runner-up on both occasions.

Flipkens retired from singles at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships. She then retired completely from the sport at Wimbledon the following year after playing her final doubles match.