Serena dumped: Take a bow, Lisicki
German sends defending Wimbledon champion packing in fourth round.
“Serena played a fantastic match. She’s such a tough opponent and it’s just an amazing feeling to win,” says Lisicki. PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON:
Sabine Lisicki ended Serena Williams’ reign as Wimbledon champion as the German 23rd seed clinched a stunning 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 victory over the world number one in the fourth round yesterday.
Lisicki, who plays Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi for a place in the last-four, has an impressive Wimbledon record, reaching the quarter-finals three times and the last-four in 2011, but this incredible upset on Centre Court was by far her greatest achievement at the All England Club.
The 23-year-old has failed to make it past the fourth round in 16 Grand Slam appearances outside Wimbledon, but she comes alive on the grass-courts and has now beaten the reigning French Open champion in each of her last four visits to south-west London.
“I’m still shaking, I’m so happy”, said Lisicki, breaking into tears. “Serena played a fantastic match. She’s such a tough opponent and it’s just an amazing feeling to win.”
A shell-shocked Serena added, “I didn’t play the big points well enough. I didn’t do what I do best. I think I had a little hesitation and that explains it.
“I definitely had my opportunities and I didn’t take them. Maybe I backed off a little bit at some points.”
Her remarkable victory was no fluke. Despite facing the most ferocious hitter in the history of women’s tennis, Lisicki matched Serena blow for blow, unloading more winners and serving more aces than the five-time Wimbledon champion in two hours and four minutes of high drama.
Li Na through, Robson stumbles
Chinese sixth-seed Li Na raced into the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-0 demolition of Italian 11th-seed Roberta Vinci.
In contrast to her topsy-turvy two previous matches, which both went to three sets, the 2011 French Open champion took just 55 minutes to get past her fourth-round opponent.
In reaching the last-eight, Li has matched her Wimbledon best, having made the quarter-finals in 2006 and 2010.
Meanwhile, Britain’s dreams of a first woman in the Wimbledon quarter-finals for 29 years were shattered when Laura Robson bowed out in tears after falling 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 to Kanepi.
Ferrer advances to quarters
In the men’s draw, Spanish fourth-seed David Ferrer reached the quarter-finals for the second successive year while Jerzy Janowicz and Lukasz Kubot set-up an all-Polish showdown for a place in the last-four.
Ferrer fired 53 winners in his 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, 6-1 win over Croatia’s unseeded Ivan Dodig.
Meanwhile, Janowicz’s 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win was based on 16 aces and 34 winners as he reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final. He was joined in the last eight just moments later when 31-year-old Kubot, the lowest-ranked player left at 130 in the world, defeated France’s 111-ranked Adrian Mannarino, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2013.
Sabine Lisicki ended Serena Williams’ reign as Wimbledon champion as the German 23rd seed clinched a stunning 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 victory over the world number one in the fourth round yesterday.
Lisicki, who plays Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi for a place in the last-four, has an impressive Wimbledon record, reaching the quarter-finals three times and the last-four in 2011, but this incredible upset on Centre Court was by far her greatest achievement at the All England Club.
The 23-year-old has failed to make it past the fourth round in 16 Grand Slam appearances outside Wimbledon, but she comes alive on the grass-courts and has now beaten the reigning French Open champion in each of her last four visits to south-west London.
“I’m still shaking, I’m so happy”, said Lisicki, breaking into tears. “Serena played a fantastic match. She’s such a tough opponent and it’s just an amazing feeling to win.”
A shell-shocked Serena added, “I didn’t play the big points well enough. I didn’t do what I do best. I think I had a little hesitation and that explains it.
“I definitely had my opportunities and I didn’t take them. Maybe I backed off a little bit at some points.”
Her remarkable victory was no fluke. Despite facing the most ferocious hitter in the history of women’s tennis, Lisicki matched Serena blow for blow, unloading more winners and serving more aces than the five-time Wimbledon champion in two hours and four minutes of high drama.
Li Na through, Robson stumbles
Chinese sixth-seed Li Na raced into the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-0 demolition of Italian 11th-seed Roberta Vinci.
In contrast to her topsy-turvy two previous matches, which both went to three sets, the 2011 French Open champion took just 55 minutes to get past her fourth-round opponent.
In reaching the last-eight, Li has matched her Wimbledon best, having made the quarter-finals in 2006 and 2010.
Meanwhile, Britain’s dreams of a first woman in the Wimbledon quarter-finals for 29 years were shattered when Laura Robson bowed out in tears after falling 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 to Kanepi.
Ferrer advances to quarters
In the men’s draw, Spanish fourth-seed David Ferrer reached the quarter-finals for the second successive year while Jerzy Janowicz and Lukasz Kubot set-up an all-Polish showdown for a place in the last-four.
Ferrer fired 53 winners in his 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, 6-1 win over Croatia’s unseeded Ivan Dodig.
Meanwhile, Janowicz’s 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win was based on 16 aces and 34 winners as he reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final. He was joined in the last eight just moments later when 31-year-old Kubot, the lowest-ranked player left at 130 in the world, defeated France’s 111-ranked Adrian Mannarino, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2013.