Lisicki romps to first career title in Charleston
Originally published on: 26/02/10 11:31
Remember the name Sabine Lisicki. The 19-year-old German produced a thrilling display to clinch her first WTA title by upsetting No.5 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the Family Circle Cup final. The No.16 seed overwhelmed her opponent with a ruthless display of booming serves and powerful ground strokes to win 6-2 6-4.
The 19-year-old German broke Wozniacki, who had upset top seed Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals, in the first and fifth games to sweep through the first set in less than half an hour.
Lisicki, who herself had hit the headlines after eliminating No.2 seed Venus Williams in the third round, again broke Wozniacki in the fifth game of the second set before surviving a few anxious moments on her own serve to seal victory on her sixth match point.
“I have practised well the last few months but I couldn’t transfer it into the matches. Then it just clicked” – Lisicki
“I enjoyed the whole week and beating Venus really gave me some confidence,” a beaming Lisicki, who will enter the top 50 for the first time next week, said afterwards. “I just stepped up my game and I won today. It’s unbelievable.
“I have practised well the last few months but I couldn’t transfer it into the matches,” said the German, whose on-court demeanour and game are reminiscent of Jennifer Capriati. “Then it just clicked and everything was working in the matches as well.”
“I was a little bit nervous when I had my first match points but I think it is normal,” the German said after firing down nine aces and hitting 33 winners against the 18-year-old Wozniacki. “I am just a human being. Then I just started again, trying to fight to make each point and just to fight until the finish. And that’s what I did.”
Lisicki had appeared in only one previous WTA final, losing to Romanian Sorana Cirstea in Tashkent last year.
Wozniacki, who had been bidding for her fifth WTA title and second this year, said: “It was a tough match for me today and I want to congratulate Sabine on a good tournament.” It’s not all bad news for the Dane, however – she will break into the world’s top ten for the first time on Monday after reaching the final.
Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Italy’s Roberta Vinci dominated defending champ Maria Kirilenko in straight sets to win the title at the Barcelona Ladies Open.
Kirilenko, the No.6 seed, failed to repeat after Vinci thoroughly outplayed her on her way to a 6-0 6-4 win to claim her second career WTA title in her second final.
“It’s such a great feeling to win again” – Vinci
The Italian also won at Bogota in 2007 after her opponent, Tathiana Garbin, was forced to retire with an illness, but there was no sense of being gifted the title in Spain.
“I am so happy. It’s such a great feeling to win again,” Vinci said. “It has been a long time since I played well. I felt good after Marbella – I had a good match against Jankovic and it gave me confidence coming here to Barcelona.”
Kirilenko was bidding for her sixth career WTA singles title – with three of those titles coming last year. However, she had won just two matches in six tournaments this year prior to Barcelona.
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