German fourth seed Sabine Lisicki battled back from a set down to oust top seed Peng Shuai of China and clinch a place in the final at the US$145,000 WTA Tashkent Open yesterday.
The 19-year-old Lisicki, ranked 64th in the WTA rankings, prevailed 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in her first ever meeting with Peng in 2 hours, 13 minutes.
“It was my first WTA semi-final and it wasn’t easy at all to play it,” Lisicki said. “I was fighting it through trying to keep myself concentrated and I won. I’ve never beaten a top seed before and I’m happy now. I know it would be difficult in the final. I played against Sorana [Cirstea] in juniors and that time she beat me.”
The rivals kept their serves until the 12th game of the opening set, when Peng, 22, broke for a 1-0 lead.
Lisicki took the second set in 45 minutes to level the match. She then broke in the 10th game to win the third set and the match and enter her first ever WTA final.
Lisicki will face another teenage player Sorana Cirstea of Romania, the third seed, who saw off fifth seed Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarukova in the other semi-final earlier yesterday.
The 18-year-old Cirstea broke twice late in the opening set to take it 6-3 in 39 minutes, when Rybarikova, 19, retired with stomach problems.
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