Serena Williams topples injured Sabine Lisicki to reach last four – Family Circle Cup 2012
Former world number one, Serena Williams, advanced to the semi-finals, as her opponent, Sabine Lisicki of Germany, retired from their encounter in the quarter-final of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, USA on Friday. Williams
was leading 4-1 in the first set, when Lisicki announced that she is unable to continue with the match.
The American started quite well, as she lost only one point in the opening game, claiming a 1-0 lead in the first set. Lisicki went down 15-40 in the second but managed to hold, after a tough fight and levelled the score at 1-1.
In the third game, the German twisted her ankle and fell on the court. She received treatment and after a break of few minutes, restarted the play. Lisicki was in severe pain, losing three consecutive games to trail 1-4. At that point, the German opted to
withdraw from the match. The contest lasted for just 40 minutes.
Lisicki was in tears when she came at the net to shake hand with her opponent. Williams had some words with her younger rival.
When asked what she said to Lisicki, Williams shared, "I just told her it would be all right. I'm in an emotional time in my life, so I told her, 'Don't cry, because you're going to make me cry,' and I was like, my eyes are getting
watery. I'm always crying. But it's not the French Open now. At least it happened earlier and you can recover. It's okay. I've been through those injuries, and it sucks. It really, really sucks."
The American will take on second seed, Samantha Stosur, in the semi-final. The Australian ended all hopes of an all Williams clash, as she defeated Venus in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the quarter-final.
Commenting on her match against Serena, Stosur said, "We've played a couple times in quick succession recently, and they've been pretty good matches, so I'm sure tomorrow is going to be no different. I'm really looking forward
to it."
This will be the ninth meeting between these two. The American leads Stosur 5-3 in the head to head record.
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