WUHAN, China - Canada's Eugenie Bouchard defeated Alize Cornet of France 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the semifinals at the Wuhan Open on Thursday.

The sixth-seeded Bouchard was leading 5-2 in the second set before letting Cornet back in the match, but the Canadian recovered to close out the victory.

Currently sitting eighth in the race to the WTA Finals in Singapore, the native of Westmount, Que., could qualify for the prestigious season-ending event should she capture the title in Wuhan.

Bouchard will face Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals. Wozniacki rallied to beat Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Third-seeded Petra Kvitova downed Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-4 to also reach the semifinals.

Kvitova held serve throughout the match broke Garcia once in each set to complete the win in 1 hour, 21 minutes.

Kvitova would qualify for WTA finals in Singapore if she wins the title at Wuhan.

But first Kvitova has to get past fast-improving Elina Svitolina in the semifinals after the unseeded Ukrainian upset No. 7 Angelique Kerber 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the quarter-finals.

"I didn't really expect that I would go in semifinal here, so was just trying to take it match by match," Svitolina said after her first win against Kerber in three matches. "I'm just trying to show my best in this tournament ... because after the U.S. Open I was playing not so good."