Sabine Lisicki crashes out to Patricia Mayr-Achleitner in opening round – Generali Ladies Linz 2012
Eighth seeded Sabine Lisicki was edged out by the local wild card entrant, Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, in brutal straight sets at the Generali Ladies Linz 2012 on Wednesday. She suffered a 1-6, 3-6 shock at the hands of the world number 159 in the opening
round at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International-level tournament held in Linz, Austria.
The German star, Lisicki displayed dismal performance at this indoor hard court event and subsequently exited from the opening round. As a result, Mayr-Achleitner not only avenged her loss at the Wimbledon Championships three years ago but also levelled
the head-to-head series by 1-1 against the Troisdorf native.
Lisicki, who was bidding for her maiden career title this season, made a disastrous entry at the Intersport Arena. She held her opening serve with poise and took the initial lead. However, the German stepped off steam afterwards and failed to even hold on
to her serve. Lisicki squandered all three break opportunities and dusted away only three out of four breakpoints she faced, eventually enduring a 1-6 loss.
Ranked 25th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Lisicki carried her losing ways in the proceeding set. She failed to block the lone breakpoint she encountered in the fourth game and went 1-4 down. The German held her remaining serves but the initial
loss cost him the set.
Summing up performance of the 23-year-old, Lisicki fired three aces but spilled more double faults. She also produced a lower first serve share of 56 per cent as compared to her rival’s 61 per cent and ended the match with only 38 points.
The local challenger on the other hand set up a date with the Croatian star, Petra Martic, who stunned Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in straight sets to set up this meeting.
The top seed, Victoria Azarenka, faced a better fortune later that day. She crushed the Dutch challenger, Arantxa Rus, with a bagel to progress. The Belarusian number one was broken once but cashed six out of eight break chances, eventually formulating a
6-0, 6-2 success.
Azarenka will lock horns with the Romanian number one, Simona Halep, in the second round.
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