High flying Sabine Lisicki squandered her chance of capturing a title this season after exiting from the opening round at the Italian Open

High flying Sabine Lisicki squandered her chance of capturing a title this season after exiting from the opening round at the Italian Open

German ace, Sabine Lisicki, became the casualty of the day after bowing out to the Kiwi contender, Marina Erakovic, in troublesome three sets at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2012 on Tuesday. She endured a 6-7(4), 6-4, 3-6 shock at the hands of the world
number 41 to exit from the opening round at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Five event held in Rome.

The 11th seeded German found her rhythm in the second set but lost her track again in the decider, ultimately enduring a shocking defeat in their second meeting. As a result, Erakovic not only avenged her loss at the Reggio Emilia WTA event but also levelled
the head-to-head series by 1-1 against the German.

Lisicki made a strong start at Foro Italico and drew the first blood in the second game to leap to a 2-0 lead. However, she lost her concentration after that and gifted away her serve twice, eventually going 3-5 down. Despite snatching her break back in
the 10^th game and enforcing a tie-breaker, the German was underplayed in it and eventually endured a 6-7(4) loss.

Ranked 13^th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Lisicki improved the level of her game in the second set and went on a four-game killing spree to jump to a 4-0 lead. Apart from losing the proceeding four games in a row, the German got the breakthrough
in the ninth game and subsequently clicked the equaliser with a 6-4 win.

The match was poise on a knife edge but New Zealand’s number one Erakovic was the one who re-gained her strength. She brushed off all three breakpoints she faced to keep her entire serves and got the breakthrough in the fourth game to clinch the decider
with a 6-3 score line.

All in all, Lisicki spilled fewer double faults and produced a better first serve share as compared to her rival. She also sought 14 break opportunities but capitalised on five of them. On the other hand, the German brushed off four out of nine breakpoints
she came across and eventually dumped out from the event.

Erakovic will next face the South African number one, Chanelle Scheepers, who tumbled over the Australian challenger, Jarmila Gajdosova, in straight sets to set-up this meeting.

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Posted by Awais Ahmed on May 16 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry