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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Sabine Lisicki beats Venus Williams In Family Circle Cup

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Second-seeded Venus Williams was upset in the third round of the Family Circle Cup on Thursday, falling to 63rd-ranked Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 7-6 (5) in a startling early exit that took even Williams by surprise.

"I wasn't expecting that and, you know, I'll try to come back next year and win," she said. "I made a few errors at the wrong time and she played some great shots."

It was the first time Williams had faced Lisicki, the German with the big serve seeded 16th this week. Lisicki consistently sent serves of over 110 mph toward Williams on the green clay of stadium court at Family Circle Tennis Center. Her serve of 123.1 mph at the Australian Open is the second-fastest on the women's tour this year.

"I'm confident with my serve," Lisicki said. "Sometimes I'm struggling, but you know, in the important points I could really count on my serve, which was very good."

At the end of the match, Lisicki buried her face in her towel and was asked later whether she was laughing, crying or simply wiping her face.

"Everything together. It was just pure emotions," she said, calling it one of the biggest wins of her career.

A day earlier, it took Williams almost 2½ hours to eliminate Sania Mirza, ranked No. 100. But Williams said she didn't feel tired going into the third round.

"It was a long match, but that's tennis. You come back and play the next day. So I am prepared to do that," she said.

Another American also fell in the third round. Qualifier Melanie Oudin gamely battled third-seeded Marion Bartoli, ranked No. 13, before falling 6-4, 6-1. The 17-year-old from Marietta, Ga., led 4-2 in the first set but could win only one more game in the match.

"I had a lead and then the whole thing was 'Oh my gosh, I'm actually beating someone who's 13 in the world,' and that got in my head a little bit," said Oudin, ranked No. 172. "It was a good match. I fought hard and I made her work for it and that was my goal out there."

Top-seed Elena Dementieva, ranked No. 3, defeated Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 6-1 and faces seventh-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, a 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-3 winner Thursday over Anastasia Rodionova, in Friday's quarterfinals.

Dementieva was asked later about Williams' loss.

"What can I say? The competition is pretty rough," she said. "You have to be ready from the first round because it's not going to be easy now, especially playing on clay court."

Fifth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki defeated Shuai Peng 6-3, 6-4 and meets Virginie Razzano.

The 13th-seeded Razzano advanced when No. 3 seed Vera Zvonareva retired after injuring her ankle in their evening match. It was 1-1 in the first set when Zvonareva, ranked No. 6 in the world, tumbled while chasing down a ball along the baseline.

She cried in pain and lay on the court for about five minutes while clutching her right ankle. She was helped to her seat on court where the ankle was wrapped and ice applied. A golf cart then took her out of the stadium.

On the other side of the draw, Lisicki faces Elena Vesnina, a 7-6 (4), 7-5 winner over Viktoriya Kutuzova, in Friday's quarterfinals. Bartoli plays unseeded Melinda Czink, who upset fourth-seeded Nadia Petrova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

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