Svetlana Kuznetsova Falls To Sabine Lisicki
27 June 2009
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The newly crowned French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was the big casualty on day sixth day of the championship as she crashed out to teenager Sabine Lisicki.
The unseeded German has been one to watch for a couple of seasons now but she really made a step onto the world stage with this victory which sees her progress into the last sixteen.
The Russian, and more experienced player, was simply out classed in the first set as the big serving Lisicki cruised to a 6-2 lead to wrap up the first set.
Kuznetsova had come through a tough game in her opening match and she was expected to power back. And power back she did as in the second set the pair went toe to toe.
However the youngster held her nerve to serve out the match but Kuznetsova played on the teenager’s nerves as she managed to break to keep her hopes alive.
But Lisicki was undeterred as applied pressure to Kuznetsova to force her long which sealed her victory. She will now play ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki.
There were similar woes for Jelena Jankoivc as her run of poor form continued crashing out to American qualifier Melanie Oudin.
When Jankovic took a 5-4 lead in the first set it looked like a straight sets win was on the cards for the former world number one but Oudin, who was making her Wimbledon this year, turned the first set around to take it to a tie-break.
Like the set the tie break was a closely fought affair as the teenager wasted three set points to hand the set to Jankovic.
But with Jankoivc calling a medical time out, which lasted a hefty twelve minutes, it was clear that all was not right as her game slowly began to fall apart.
And the teenager took full advantage of the restricted movement of the sixth seed as she won the second set to take the match the distance.
Jankovic’s games went from bad to worse as she couldn’t match Oudin’s play as she raced through the third set to claim as famous victory 6-7 (8-10) 7-5 6-2.
However there were no such problems for third seed Venus Williams as she saw of Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, avenging her Australian open defeat.
The first set just took thirty three minutes as Navarro failed to take a single game as a string of breaks from the American handed her the first set 6-0.
It was a better performance from the Spaniard in the second set as she finally got on the scoreboard by holding her serve part way through the second set.
She went on to break back and it looked like she was finally settling into the match but when Venus levelled at 4-4 she quickly went on to break and seal the match in straight sets 6-0 6-4.
Venus will now play Ana Ivanovic in the next round. Thirteenth seed Ivanovic saw off Sam Stosur.
There was also a victory for world number one Dinara Safina, who has been slowly improving with each round, as she saw off Kirsten Flipkens in straight sets.
It was a tight first set which went with serve but it was three time grand slam finalist Safina that cranked up the pace and power to break her Belgian opponent to seal the first set 7-5.
It was all over from this point as she raced to victory taking the second set in a more convincing fashion 6-1 to suggest that she may be ready to compete for the title as the tournament prepares to go into the second week. She will now face former champion Amelie Mauresmo.
There were also wins for Caroline Wozniacki who saw off Anabel Medina Garrigues in straight sets 6-2 6-2 while Agnieszka Radwanska saw off Na Li 6-4 7-5 to face Oudin in the next round.
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