LONDON: Maria Sharapova suffered a shock exit from Wimbledon on Monday as Germany's Sabine Lisicki avenged last year's semifinal defeat with a 6-4, 6-3 fourth round victory over the world number one.
Sharapova had romped to a straight sets win over Lisicki in last year's semifinal at the All England Club, but the top seed was completely out-played by the 15th seed this time.
The 25-year-old has been a finalist in three of the last four Grand Slams and arrived at Wimbledon on a high after winning the French Open for the first time earlier this month.
But she came back down to earth with a bump on Court One as Lisicki, beaten in the first round in her four pre-Wimbledon tournaments, produced one of the best performances of her career.
Lisicki will play four-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters or German eighth seed Angelique Kerber for a place in the last four.
The big-hitting 22-year-old, dubbed 'Doris Becker' by German media for her powerful style, was quickly into her stride and broke for a 3-1 lead in the first set.
Even when nerves got the better of Lisicki as she served for the set, allowing Sharapova to break, it was the German's response that impressed as she came out all guns blazing and broke straight back to take the set at the second attempt.
Rain halted play with Sharapova 30-15 up on Lisicki's serve in the first game of the second set.
But the 45-minute delay did little to improve Sharapova's mindset and a double-fault presented Lisicki with two break points, which the German gratefully converted at the first attempt with a blistering forehand return.
No comments:
Post a Comment