Simona Halep outshines Sabine Lisicki to reach the second round – Sony Open Tennis 2013
World number 37, Sabine Lisicki, had a terrible beginning at Sony Open Tennis tournament, falling out in the opening round on Wednesday. She was outplayed by the 57th ranked Romanian, Simona Halep, in a gruelling three-setter.
Halep stunned the German tennis ace in two hours and two minutes, settling the final score line at 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
Lisicki defeated Halep in 2011 WTA event in Stanford, USA, but it was the payback time for the Romanian. Halep was off to a flyer in the opening set and took hold of the momentum early to get in the driving seat. She stumbled a
bit in the following set and Lisicki seized the opportunity to get back in business. However, the Romanian underdog rallied past her superior ranked opponent in the dire situation of the final set and came out as the surprised winner.
21-year-old Halep broke the German contender in the very first game of the match to impose a 2-0 lead right away. She carried on playing positively and held her following two serves with conviction. Another cracking break of serve
in the seventh game left the Romanian serving for the set at 5-2. Lisicki couldn’t restrict her opponent to bag the opening set at 6-2.
Lisicki cashed in an early opportunity in the following set and quickly raced to a 3-0 lead. Halep didn’t drop her serve in the rest of the set but couldn’t recover from the early damage either. The 37th ranked German
cruised through the second set to seal it at 6-3.
Both players took off the decisive set in a cautious manner. Halep registered a break point in the fourth game, only to be broken in the very next game. The scores kept ticking and reached 6-5 in favour of the Romanian. It appeared
as if Lisicki will hold her next serve and drag the set into a tie-break round. However, Halep stunned everyone present at the hard courts of Miami by stinging the all-important break point in the 12th game. She wrapped up her surprise victory at
7-5 to reach the second round of the WTA Premier-level event.
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