Sabine Lisicki brushes aside Tatjana Malek in the opener – PTT Pattaya Open 2013
Number five seed, Sabine Lisicki, had an excellent beginning to her PTT Pattaya Open campaign by outmuscling her inferior-ranked fellow compatriot, Tatjana Malek, in the first round clash on Tuesday. The German diva took exactly
one hour to register a cracking score line of 6-2, 6-3, to register her second victory of the 2013 WTA Tour.
It was a completely one-sided affair, with the world number 52 dominating the entire 60 minutes of play. Lisicki didn’t allow a single chance to Malek to come on top and kept nudging crucial points all the way to victory. Her forehand
worked perfectly for her and she belted a number of winners down the line.
The fifth seeded German was off to a flyer in the opening set, breaking her compatriot in her very first serve game and imposing a 3-0 lead right away. Malek managed to hold her serve in the following two games before Lisicki dealt
another crushing blow in the eighth game of the set. She closed out the opener at 6-2 to get the upper hand in the contest comprehensively.
Lisicki sustained her winning impetus in the following set and registered her third break of serve in the fourth game. A convincing hold of serve in the next game, followed by another cracking break point conversion propelled Lisicki
to an unassailable lead of 5-1. Malek made her desperate attempt for a comeback in the contest and finally registered her maiden serve break in the seventh game to improve 2-5 in the scores. However, she couldn’t restrain the fifth seeded German from closing
out the match at 6-3.
Albeit a below par serve precision of 49 per cent, Lisicki secured 20 out of 26 first serve points in the match. She converted four out of her five break points, while defending three of the four she faced from her opponent, en
route to victory. Lisicki will take on the unseeded Russian underdog, Alexandra Panova, in her next encounter for a place in the quarter-final draw. Panova was successful against the injury-stricken Romanian contender, Irina Camelia Begu, in the opening round
battle.
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