Sharapova, Clijsters, Ivanovic fall in round four of Wimbledon

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Wilson Blade 9

Sabine Lisicki loves Wimbledon, she’s played her one and only Grand Slam semifinal there last year, and this time she’s again making her mark on grass by upsetting top seed Maria Sharapova in the fourth round 6-4 6-3. Actually, it was Sharapova who prevented Lisicki from reaching the final last time and now the German has not only avenged the loss, but also earned her first victory over the Russian. Moreover, not only is Sharapova a world No.1, she’s the 2004 Wimbledon champion and the reigning Roland Garros titlist. Lisicki outplayed her and scored her third win over a Roland Garros champion at Wimbledon.

Kim Clijsters was playing her last Wimbledon, the only Grand Slam at which she has failed to reach the final, and her conqueror was Angelique Kerber, the sole Top 10 player whom she had never faced before. The eighth-seeded Kerber, the WTA leader for match wins this year, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-1 6-1 victory.

Some experts favored seed No.14 Ana Ivanovic in the encounter with second seed Victoria Azarenka, but that was far from the outcome of this fourth-round clash as Ivanovic was destroyed 6-1 6-0. Since her 2008 Roland Garros triumph, Ivanovic hasn’t reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal, and she played all the 16 Grand Slam events!

There was no upset in the match between Serena Williams and the golden-set Yaroslava Shvedova, although the Kazakh did give a stiff challenge before losing 6-1 2-6 7-5. Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska beat Camila Giorgi, who recorded her first two Top 20 wins during this Wimbledon, 6-2 6-3, while defending champion Petra Kvitova took out Francesca Schiavone 4-6 7-5 6-1.

So let’s see who the quarterfinal pairs are (seedings are in brackets): Sabine Lisicki (15) vs. Angelique Kerber (8), Agnieszka Radwanska (3) vs. Maria Kirilenko (17), Serena Williams (6) vs. Petra Kvitova (4), Tamira Paszek vs. Victoria Azarenka (2). As you can notice, the resurgent Paszek is the only unseeded player in the quarters. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

3 COMMENTS

  1. Take a bow, Sabine!

    I was at the match today and have to say Lisicki played just great. She outplayed Sharapova and really went for her shots. Her serve and particularly the return of serve were on fire today.

    Credit to Sharapova though for waiting for Lisicki at the end and even signing autographs for the Court No.1 crowd… very classy, I thought.

  2. Sharapova has indeed worked hard on her game and it has paid dividends this year, but today her old frailties were once again exposed. Despite being 6’2″ she still weighs only 130lbs, which makes her one of the lightest of the top players. And it shows when she comes up against bigger, more physically powerful players like Lisicki. Sharapova is very slightly built, both in her legs and her upper body and she cannot cope with the sort of relentless pummelling that Lisicki subjected her to today. Against power players like Lisicki, who hits the ball hard and fast, Sharapova cannot get her long legs moving quickly enough and then she’s constantly off balance and unable to cope with the power of the likes of Lisicki..

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