Serena Williams eases past Sabine Lisicki to make it to the final – Bank of the West Classic 2011
After missing a year of action at the Women’s Tennis Association tour, Serena Williams is back to her very best as she made quick work of Wimbledon semi-finalist Sabina Lisicki 6-1, 6-2 to reach her first final of this season at
2011 Bank of the West Classic.
Ranked 169th in the world, William made a comeback from an injury at 2011 Wimbledon just over a month ago. Although she was ousted in the grass court Grand Slam tournament, she improved her game play with every passing
round and now at the hard courts of Stanford she is really playing like a champion as she eased past a very tricky opponent.
"I have to be more consistent and I want to make fewer mistakes," Williams said. "I was trying to go for the shots when it's right."
Williams looked in complete control of the match right from the word go. Breaking the German challenger early in the opening set, she raced to 3-1 lead. Williams had no problems converting her service games and she broke the serve
the serve twice to pocket the opening set after only 25 minutes of play.
Serena continued to dominate Lisicki in the second set as well. Breaking the serve in fourth game of the set, she again took 3-1 lead in the set. And then by capitalizing on her game score advantage, she completed her straight
sets victory in a match that lasted for only 55 minutes.
"I feel like a kid again," Williams said. "When I was younger I had the goal of being in the top 100, then qualifying for a Grand Slam without a wild card. I have those goals again."
"I have to be more consistent and I want to make fewer mistakes," Williams said. "I was trying to go for the shots when it's right."
In the final, Williams will be facing Marion Bartoli of France and she is expected to pull off victory.
"She should be fresh and I will be ready," Williams said. "It's a whole new match and I'm a better player than I was at Wimbledon. This is great progress and I'm excited about my potential as I go forward.
Lisicki had her chances but she seemed to be under pressure whenever she played for a big points. She was clearly surprised by the pace of shots from Serena as she failed to get to the ball on several occasions. Nonetheless, she
called it a learning experience for herself.
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