Angelique Kerber advances to semi-finals; Sabine Lisicki retires – ASB Classic 2012
World Number 32, Angelique Kerber, moved into the semi-finals of ASB Classic tournament after her compatriot, top seed Sabine Lisicki, retired during the encounter due to a severe left abdominal injury. This depressing moment
was seen by a sizeable gathering in Auckland, New Zealand, on Wednesday, as Lisicki left the courts in pain after struggling to make an impact in the match. She could just play for over an hour after retiring from the match and the scoreboard displayed 6-4,
4-3 in Kerber’s favour.
It was the third encounter between the two players and ironically, Kerber had a head-to-head lead of 2-0 over her compatriot before entering into this match. They met each other on courts after a gap of almost three and a
half years; last time they met in Ordina Open in June 2008. It was expected that top seed will be off the mark on Wednesday’s encounter but injury to her abdomen stopped her season-opener title campaign.
The match commenced in dismal fashion as the top seed crashed at the court in the opening game of the set that saw her hurt the lower part of the body. She managed to resume but her performance wasn’t the same. Kerber looked
strong and tough; she managed to hold on to her first serve and broke in the second; she further enhanced the score by winning the third game that included a perfectly placed ace.
Top seed German held her serve and broke in the fifth game; she levelled the score at 3-3 with a successful serve game. She came back into the match but wasn’t performing in the same manner as she used to in the previous
stages of the tournament. Her timing was out sometimes and also coughed some unforced errors, which were clearly uncharacteristic of her.
Score moved to 4-3 in Kerber’s favour, followed by a severe onslaught both ends. The two players thumped their opponent’s on their serves and registered three breaks in succession (one for top seed and two for Kerber) helped
the inferior ranked German to bag the first set and put immense pressure on her rival.
Conventional start to the second set saw both players hanging on to their serves in the first four games but Lisicki was clearly fighting through pain and limping a bit in order to insert less pressure on her left abdomen.
Breaks were traded in the next two games and score moved to 3-3. Kerber served to make it 4-3 and Lisicki was clearly struggling to even stand up on her feet. She laboured towards the sidelines and decided to discontinue.
Angelique Kerber takes on the fourth seed Flavia Pennetta in the semi-final.
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