LINZ, Austria (AFP) - Top seed Flavia Pennetta and second seed Agnieszka Radwanska were beaten in the semi-finals of the WTA event here on Saturday.

Third seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium defeated Italian Pennetta 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, and unseeded Czech Petra Kvitova upset Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-3, 6-2.

Pennetta's defeat means that she is eliminated from the race for the last remaining place available at the WTA Championships in Doha, although her chance of qualifying was slim as she needed to win both Linz and next week's event in Moscow to have any hope of competing in the season-ending finale.

Although Pennetta might still travel to Qatar as an alternate to replace any player that is sick or injured, the remaining place to be decided in Moscow is between Jelena Jankovic, Vera Zvonareva and Radwanska.

Pennetta had an opportunity to claim the first set, breaking twice from 0-3 down to lead 5-4, but she allowed Wickmayer to level at 5-5 and take the tie-break.

There was drama on the final point as, with Wickmayer leading 6-5, a Pennetta return was called out but over-ruled by the umpire, but Pennetta made an error when the point was replayed.

Wickmayer then converted the first break point of the second set at 3-3 when Pennetta hit her sixth double-fault and, after surviving a break point in the next game when the Italian made a poor return, Wickmayer broke again for the match with a winning pass.

"I've been so close to beating a top player the last couple of months and finally I beat one. I'm very excited," said Wickmayer.

"I started off well but then she started serving really well and I just tried to stay aggressive, stay up in the court. That's been working well for me this week."

Radwanska was playing her 65th match of the season and her 14th in three weeks, and she looked flat against an aggressive opponent who struck some stinging returns and moved the ball around well to leave the Pole out of position.

Radwanska was in trouble right from the first game as Kvitova took a 1-0 lead on her fourth break point and although Radwanska leveled at 1-1, she dropped her next service game to love.

Three double-faults in her third service game then helped Kvitova to a third break and a 4-1 lead.

The Czech, who beat world number one Dinara Safina to reach the fourth round of the US Open last month, failed to serve out the set at 5-2, but she earned a fourth break at 5-3 when Radwanska hit a forehand wide down the line.

Kvitova maintained the pressure in the second set, breaking to lead 2-0 after a fine return set up a winning volley.

Another volley saved a break point in the next game, and she went on to tie up the match in an eight-deuce final game, clinching victory on her seventh match point.

"I was looking to reach the quarter-finals so I'm very happy," said Wickmayer, who will be seeking her second title of the year after winning Hobart in January.

"I think Agnieszka was tired from her matches before this. The last game was nervous for me because Agnieszka is a top 10 player so I knew she could come back against me."

Radwanska admitted that she was weary and said the outcome of the match was largely down to her own shortcomings.

"I was tired," she said. "I'm happy I could even get to the semi-final here. I tried but it was just too tough. She played all right, but she didn't have to do anything special to beat me."