Sabine Lisicki, who slipped outside the world’s top 200 last year after seven weeks on crutches, beat fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-2 to win the Aegon Classic yesterday.
The 21-year-old German, whose only previous WTA Tour victory was in Charleston in 2007, secured her second career title after the final had been postponed from Sunday because of rain.
In a performance showing how well she has recovered from an ankle injury and how ideally her game is suited to grass, Lisicki broke her opponent in the fourth game.
Photo: AFP
From there, her booming serve and fierce ground-strokes always made her the likely winner.
Yesterday’s success in the grass-court event comes a week before the start of Wimbledon, where Lisicki reached the quarter-finals in 2009.
It also confirmed the wisdom of the Wimbledon committee, whose members decided on Sunday to give Lisicki one of two remaining wild-cards for the championships.
“I am in disbelief,” Lisicki said.
“I am shaking. It’s an amazing week. At the start of it, I never thought I would be standing here today. The comeback from injury was so difficult, it means so much to me,” she said.
The German only recovered some composure after gently being asked not to drip tears into the Maude Watson Trophy, an elegant antique silver bowl.
Looking back at her recovery, Lisicki said: “There were so many doubters and so much stuff coming from the sidelines that I wouldn’t get there. So I had this tunnel vision about getting back. I always thought I would.”
Hantuchova, who beat former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the semi-finals, had been carrying a shoulder injury which may have affected her serve and she was perhaps slightly below her best.
She only once looked like getting back into the match at break point in the eighth game, only for Lisicki to produce two heavy, well-placed drives to escape trouble.
Lisicki, who was billed as one of the WTA Tour’s new young hopes when she reached the verge of the top 20 two years ago, now seems to be close to her level of 2009 and is clearly looking forward to Wimbledon.
“If I hadn’t been given the wild-card, I would have been playing the qualifying tomorrow and it will be very helpful to be able to rest for a couple of days instead, but I don’t want to put pressure on myself,” Lisicki said.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS