Venus dumped out by Lisicki

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:25

World number five Williams, 28, led 4-2 in the first set and 5-3 in the second, but 19-year-old Lisicki responded each time to surge 6-2 ahead in the tie-break before wrapping up the win in 98 minutes on her third match point.

Lisicki, who finished runner-up in Tashkent last year and reached the quarter-finals in Cincinnati last summer in her breakthrough year, will face Elena Vesnina in the last eight after the Russian beat Viktoriya Kutuzova of the Ukraine 7-6 (7/4) 7-5.

“It’s a great victory beating Venus Williams. She’s just a great champion. I still can’t really believe I won,” said Lisicki, who reached the semi-finals in Memphis in February.

“It’s one of my biggest wins. I think my win against Lindsay Davenport was really big as well, representing my country and beating her in my very first Fed Cup experience. But beating Venus Williams here was just awesome.”

Fourth seed Nadia Petrova also made an exit in the last 16, but top seed Elena Dementieva eased her way into the quarter-finals.

Hungarian Melinda Czink edged out world number 10 Petrova 3-6 6-4 7-5 after rallying from 5-3 down in the decider to set up a meeting with sixth seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli, who beat qualifier Melanie Oudin 6-4 6-4.

World number three Dementieva, already a two-time winner this year in Auckland and Sydney, needed just over an hour to dismiss Varvara Lepchenko 6-1 6-1 and the Russian will face seventh seed Dominika Cibulkova, who beat Anastasia Rodionova 6-7 (6/8) 6-2 6-3, for a place in the semi-finals.

Finally, fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki beat China’s Peng Shuai 6-3 6-4 and the Dane will face 13th seed Virginie Razzano, who advanced after third seed Vera Zvonareva was forced to retire at 1-1 in the first set due to injury.

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