Sabine Lisicki surprises Li Na to reach the quarter-finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
German wildcard and former world number 22, Sabine Lisicki surprised everyone by her victory over the Chinese number one, Li Na, in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, played at the Porsche Tennis Arena at Stuttgart,
Germany on Wednesday. She outclassed the sixth seeded Chinese in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, in just one hour and forty four minutes to book a quarter-final berth at the $721,000 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) event.
21-year-old Lisicki was the second of the four Germans who qualified for the quarter-final round at Stuttgart. It was the first time she faced Li Na and displayed her brilliant tennis skills to dispense one of the top seeded players
out of the tournament. Her game play in the contest lacked something to be desired but nevertheless, her overall performance was quite impressive.
“When I was No.22, I felt the pressure of being the seeded player who was expected to get through at least two rounds at the bigger tournaments,” Lisicki reflected her views after the matchup, “Now after my injury and being No.155,
the pressure has disappeared. I’m playing better than my ranking would suggest. And the crowd was sensational!”
The German surprisingly recorded just one ace in the contest, as she fired 14 of those in her opening round matchup. Six double faults were also conceded by Lisicki, in contrast to two from the Chinese competitor. The German crafted
17 opportunities to break the opponent’s serve but converted merely five chances en route to victory.
Li Na hung in the contest for most of the time but failed to put up her typical performance with the racquet. She served with 71 per cent precision but nabbed just 50 out of 96 total serve points in the contest. The Chinese missed
some of the easiest opportunities in the game to eventually end on the losing side.
The sixth seeded Chinese capitalised upon the three double faults from Lisicki in the opener to strike a serve break but had to suffer two break points from her opponent to remain on the back foot. The German collected 12 of 15
first serve points and closed the first set at 6-4 with her second serve break.
The competition became more intense in the next set, with Li Na trying to break the shackles with her aggressive manoeuvres. She broke twice to reach a substantial lead of 5-3 in the second set but an out of ordinary performance
from Lisicki, who reeled off the next four games in a row to conclude victory at 7-5.
Lisicki will be squaring off against her fellow compatriot, Julia Goerges in the quarter-final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Goerges got access to the round of eight luckily when the world number five, Victoria Azarenka of
Belarus, retired from the second round matchup due to her shoulder injury.
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