Sabine Lisicki Wins Family Circle Cup For First WTA Title

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Sabine Lisicki jumped in the air, then fell on her back on the green clay to celebrate winning her first tour title with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Caroline Wozniacki on Sunday in the Family Circle Cup.

As she did to opponents all week, the 19-year-old Lisicki overpowered Wozniacki with her serve, often launching serves of over 120 mph as she scattered nine aces during the match. The last came on a 122 mph serve that gave her the advantage in the final game.

Lisicki, the 16th seed who beat second-seed Venus Williams in the third round, began her celebration after the next point when Wozniacki couldn't get a backhand on a ball at the baseline.

"I couldn't believe that I won, because I didn't use my match points," Lisicki said. "Then I finally won. I don't know which match point it was -- seventh, eighth -- it felt like 30th. But I was just so happy I won."

"I knew that she was going to be a little bit nervous. I knew that she was maybe going to have some trouble closing it out," Wozniacki said. "She came up with some good serves."

In reality, Wozniacki, of Denmark, fought off five match points in that final game before Lisicki prevailed.

During that final game, which went to deuce five times, Lisicki had two serves of 122 mph as well as a 120-mph serve.

"She's a player that can play really well, hit the ball really hard and, yeah, if it goes in, it's really tough," Wozniacki said.

Lisicki won $188,000 and a crystal cup for her first tour victory. She also becomes the first player to win the Family Circle Cup who has never won a tournament title previously. Ranked No. 63, she is expected to climb to No. 43 with the victory.

"I told my mom before the tournament that I really want to play Venus and that I think I have the game to beat her," Lisicki said. "So when I got into the match against Venus, I really thought I could win and then I just kept rolling."

Wozniacki, 18, ranked No. 12 and seeded fifth, was looking for her second straight tour victory after winning last week on clay at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. She eliminated top seed Elena Dementieva in a semifinal match that lasted almost three hours on Saturday and said she felt tired going into the finals.

"I don't think it was from yesterday. I just think it's in general, you know, from playing a lot of matches," she said. "I started feeling it a little bit today but she also didn't give me a chance to come back in the match."

But Wozniacki was pleased after winning at Ponte Vedra Beach and making the Charleston final.

"I thought clay was the surface I liked the least. But after these two weeks I really proved myself wrong," she said.

The players are 1-1 in two meetings. Wozniacki won in three sets at last year's Australian Open.

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Caroline Woznizcki Defeated Elena Dementieva In Family Circle Semifinal

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the finals of the Family Circle Cup on Saturday, fighting off a furious rally by Elena Dementieva to defeat the tournament's top seed 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.

Wozniacki now meets 16th-seeded Sabine Lisicki, who, after ousting Venus Williams earlier in the week, easily defeated sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-1 in the other semifinal.

Dementieva, ranked No. 3, saved three match points in the second set to force a third in a match that lasted almost three hours on the green clay.

Wozniacki, seeded fifth, was up 5-2 in the second set, serving for the match, when Dementieva broke her at love.

Dementieva then won her next service game, fighting off three match points, and the following three games to force the third set. When she evened the set at 5-5, Wozniacki threw her racket on the court in disgust.

But Wozniacki, an 18-year-old Dane ranked No. 12, prevailed on her fifth match point. Wozniacki is looking for her second straight tour victory after winning last week on clay at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Wozniacki said she was thinking too much about a victory when Dementieva staged her second-set rally.

"I knew I had to close it out and, you know, I was a little bit nervous," she said. "She started to play some really good tennis, aggressive and doesn't make so many errors, and, you know, she wins the set and I'm not so happy about that."

She said she hoped she would not be tired going into the final.

"It hasn't been a factor until now, and I've played quite a lot of matches, so I hope I can pull the last one through," she said.

But it could be a factor in Sunday's final, as Lisicki, the No. 63-ranked German with the blazing serve -- she had one of 125 mph Saturday -- needed only about an hour to defeat Bartoli.

"I don't really care about that. It's a final and, you know, I'm sure everybody wants to win, so we'll both go out there and fight," said Lisicki, who is looking for her first tour title.

The only meeting between Lisicki and Wozniacki was last year at the Australian Open, when Wozniacki won in three sets.

"It was more than a year ago that we played, and I think we have both gotten much better," Lisicki said.

Dementieva said she couldn't overcome a slow start against Wozniacki after she fell behind 5-2 in the first set.

"I just saw too many mistakes in the beginning of the match," she said. "So for me to come back just took a lot of energy, and I wish I had a better start and so it would have been a different game.

"Dementieva has appeared seven times in Charleston but never won. It was the second straight year she was in the semifinals. She made the finals four years ago.

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Family Circle Cup Women's Singles Results

April 16 - Family Circle Cup women's singles third round results from South Carolina, U.S. on Thursday (prefix denotes seeding, * denotes new result) * 13-Virginie Razzano (France) beat 3-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) 1-1 (Zvonareva retired)

Elena Vesnina (Russia) beat Viktoriya Kutuzova (Ukraine) 7-6(4) 7-5

Melinda Czink (Hungary) beat 4-Nadia Petrova (Russia) 3-6 6-4 7-5 1-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) 6-1 6-1 5-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) beat 10-Peng Shuai (China) 6-3 6-4 16-Sabine Lisicki (Germany) beat 2-Venus Williams (U.S.) 6-4 7-6(5) 7-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) beat Anastasia Rodionova (Russia) 6-7(6) 6-2 6-3 6-Marion Bartoli (France) beat Melanie Oudin (U.S.) 6-4 6-1

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