One to watch: Sabine Lisicki

Lisicki wins After Sabine Lisicki had become the lowest-ranked player to defeat Venus Williams in more than 12 months - at the Charleston WTA event in April - the five-time Wimbledon champion said: "I wasn't expecting that." As Lisicki has worked her way through the ladies’ draw to become the first German to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals since Steffi Graf, the phrase, "I wasn’t expecting that" has been used less and less frequently about the 19-year-old. Certainly the manner in which she beat eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki on Monday was less of a surprise given how she defeated French Open champion Svetlana Kuznestova in the previous round. Of the players left in the ladies’ draw, only Serena Williams has served more aces than Lisicki’s 29 while her forehand and double-handed backhand were devastating and exquisite in equal measure against Wozniacki. "Getting into the second week, I just thought, you know, I have nothing to lose now," Lisicki says. "I'm playing my best tennis so far and I'm very happy, and I think I can still get much better. "I think I have a pretty good forehand. I think my groundstrokes, are getting more and more consistent. "And the last year, you know, I had those good shots, but I couldn't play consistently. And I think the first time I did that well, it was in Charleston. And I proved to myself that I can actually beat the big players and keep on playing consistent in a tournament." Lisicki’s quarter-final opponent is world No.1 Dinara Safina, who she beat in their only previous meeting at the Australian Open, in 2008. If she can continue her recent form and hold her nerve, other people, those who have not read this article, may be say to you tomorrow, "I wasn’t expecting that". But you will know better.

Shaky Safina passes Lisicki test

Sabine Lisicki of Germany plays a forehand during her match against top seed Dinara Safina. Despite 15 double faults and 38 unforced errors, Dinara Safina outlasted dynamic German teenager Sabine Lisicki to win a tougher-than-expected quarter-final 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1. The world No.1 battled for two hours 25 minutes to book a semi-final tie against Venus Williams. If the unheralded Lisicki, 19 years old and in her first Grand Slam quarter-final, had any nerves about the big occasion on Centre Court, she certainly handled them better than her opponent. The Russian may be top of the world rankings but she has yet to prove she has the big match temperament to go all the way in a Grand Slam environment. The top seed won the toss and elected to serve – a brave move on her part since, as her serve goes, so her game goes. The opening game began with services that were long, net (double fault), let, let, fair, let, long, but Safina somehow held. Lisicki on the other hand started as she meant to go on – with an ace, her 30th of the tournament, and held serve more conventionally. Safina was to be less fortunate in her second service game. Two double faults presented her opponent with a pair of break points which the Russian promptly saved, but when a third one came, disaster struck. A point had to be replayed after a call was overruled, which meant that Dinara had to go through the chore of serving all over again. A third double-fault later and Lisicki was in the driving seat. Once she had been broken, Safina paradoxically seemed under less pressure and served more comfortably, but she rarely looked like threatening Lisicki’s service. The German did face break points in mid-set but had the nous to realise that the harder she served, the harder Safina returned. Serves of 80-90 mph became the order of the day, which kept Safina guessing and made Lisicki’s aces all the more unreturnable when she fired one of them down instead. At 5-3, all the German had to do was serve out for the set, but it was as if she suddenly realised that the pressure was now on her. Until that point, any rally that had gone beyond four shots had automatically gone to Lisicki, the lithe teenager giving Safina – whose movements on grass are cumbersome at best– the runaround and picking her spots at will. This ability deserted her momentarily and Safina needed no second bidding, breaking back to 15 then holding her nerve to level at 5-5. The best chance for the six-foot Muscovite to take the set was via another break, but Lisicki got her stroke-making back and the scoreboard announced 6-6. A tiebreak is the worst form of mental torture for the fragile Safina psyche, who had previously had to endure gales of laughter from the Centre Court crowd after a service from the deuce side just failed to clip the inner tramline – on the wrong side of the court. Though she held the first point, a break was never far away and Lisicki soon had three set points only to wobble again, putting an easy volley wide on the second one with the court at her mercy. She challenged the call, and while she may or may not have believed that the ball had clipped the line, it gave Safina an extra 30 seconds to wait before serving. By default or design on Lisicki’s part, it was a masterstroke – Safina double-faulted, as she had done on match point in the final of the French, and handed the set to the teenager. Nerves crept into Lisicki’s game halfway through the second set and it was her turn to double-fault on break point, handing Safina the advantage in the crucial seventh game. At 5-4, she had the chance to serve out but began with a double-fault – her ninth of the match. She obstinately refused to vary her line or length and found herself facing a break point which she saved with a big serve. But then she lost her temper, railing and hurling invectives at the chair umpire instead of letting her tennis do the talking – an unwise move after she had been given a warning for hurling her racket to the ground after her double fault on set point in the opener. More nerves and second serves ensued, but Lisicki was the shakier of the two. Safina held to lead 6-4 and set up a nerve jangling decider. The Russian broke to open the third, hurtling into the net and digging out a drop, only to hand the initiative back after a mammoth game in which she saved three break points, squandered two game points and ran the gamut of challenges, mis-hits, drops, double faults only for the net cord to hand Lisicki the break back. That, however, was as good as it got for the plucky German teenager, who had obviously spent her final cartridges in breaking back. Safina’s superior fitness powered her to five straight games, and she even had time to practise her famously febrile serve when Lisicki called a medical time-out for cramp. The deciding set gave the final scoreline a lopsided look, and was poor reward for Lisicki’s incredible run this past week which saw her defeat three seeds and two top 10 players. Safina, meanwhile, knows that she will have her work cut out for her on Thursday against five-time champion Venus Williams. But winning a quarter-final on her least favourite surface while only playing at her best in sporadic bursts represents some kind of progress for the world No.1. Centre Court - Ladies' Singles - Quarterfinals Dinara Safina RUS (1) 65 6 6 Sabine Lisicki GER 77 4 1

Lisicki continues giant-killing run

Lisicki wins It was 20 years ago that Germany provided the ladies’ and men’s champion at Wimbledon in the form of Steffi Graf and Boris Becker. Sabine Lisicki, who was born two months later, kept alive hopes of a repeat with her 6-4, 6-4 victory over Caroline Wozniacki on Court 4. With Tommy Haas also winning today, there is a German interest in the quarter-finals of both events. Lisicki consistently produced big serves on big points in what proved to be a comfortable victory over the ninth seed, who was aiming for a ninth consecutive win on grass having won the warm-up tournament at Eastbourne. Lisicki is getting a taste for giant-killing. In the previous round, she beat French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. The statistics say the 19-year-old German hit eight aces to Wozniacki’s two, but she also served plenty of balls that her opponent could get a racket on but do nothing with. Wozniacki, on the other hand, suffered from her serve, or lack thereof. As five-time champion Venus Williams will tell you, a fast, reliable serve is an awesome weapon on grass. If Lisicki could rely on her serve to win her important points, Wozniacki was her own worst enemy at crucial times. The Dane was regularly looking towards the players’ guests with an exasperated look on her face. When one of her double-handed backhands went into the net, she threw her racket to the ground. Over two sets, Wozniacki hit just 14 winners compared with Liscki’s 22. With the score at 2-2 in the first, a combination of two Wozniacki errors and two sumptuous shots from Lisicki provided the first break of the match. In the next game, Wozniacki raced to a 15-40 lead and the chance to break back, but Lisicki produced two aces and another serve that was unreturnable to hold comfortably. To claim the set, Lisicki won three consecutive points from 30-40 down, all thanks to her serve, including an ace to seal the matter. The German, who is making just her second Wimbledon appearance after losing in the first round on her debut in 2008, opened the second set by breaking Wozniacki’s serve. In a repeat of the first set, Wozniacki again got into a position to break straight back at 15-40 and again Lisicki produced an ace and a serve that was as good as an ace to shut down the challenge. Those were the only two break point opportunities for Wozniacki in the set as Liscki kept the threat at arm’s length to close out the match. Court 4 - Ladies' Singles - 4th Round Caroline Wozniacki DEN (9) 4 4 Sabine Lisicki GER 6 6

Lisicki spoils Kuznetsova's party

Lisicki joy Today may be Svetlana Kuznetsova’s 24th birthday but Sabine Lisicki was the only one celebrating after the highly rated teenager beat the French Open champion in straight sets on No.1 Court. Despite riding high on the back of her Grand Slam triumph this month, fifth seed Kuznetsova was slow out of the blocks and failed to recover in time to rescue the match, succumbing to her 19-year-old German opponent 6-2, 7-5. Lisicki said: "It's the first time I'm in the second week and I just kept telling myself, you have nothing to lose, just go for your shots. That's what I did in the end and it turned out to be good. "I just kept fighting. I missed some opportunities at 5-4 but I managed to serve well and just fought to finish up the match," she added. In a nervy opening passage of play both players looked more comfortable on the return with an immediate exchange of breaks. The German capitalised on the early shift of momentum to open up a 4-1 lead in a profitable spell that put her firmly in control of the set. Lisicki’s evident comfort in the dictating proceedings was well backed by a solid all-round game that signified maturity beyond her years.The teenager’s consistently high quality of return and ability to vary her shots unnerved Kuznetsova, who reeled off a series of uncharacteristic unforced errors. "I wasn't feeling my comfort at all. I was not moving much and I was not doing my thing," admitted Kuznetsova. "You have got to be quick and at maximum level all the time and I haven't done so today. That's why I lost." While Kuznetsova was struggling with the racket, she was able to demonstrate impressive football skills, returning a Lisicki let service with a well executed half volley. But her tennis continued to be a cause for concern and she grew increasingly frustrated. The Russian’s yelps of anguish were punctuated by a brief dispute with the umpire over a serve that Kuznetsova believed had clipped the top of the net on its way down but failed to trigger the sensor. With so much animation on the other side of the net Lisicki maintained her composure and continued to pile on the pressure. She was rewarded when she broke serve for a third time to clinch the set 6-2.With the benefit of an extended break between sets, Kuznetsova began to show glimpses of the quality that saw her go all the way at Roland Garros. But still Lisicki looked the more assured and her confidence was justified given her impressive level of consistency on the big stage. With the set seemingly heading to a tie break at 6-5, the 19-year-old raised her game to make the decisive break and spoiled Kuznetsova's birthday celebrations with the win. Court 1 - Ladies' Singles - 3rd Round Sabine Lisicki GER 6 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (5) 2 5

Williams sisters head doubles winners

The Williams sisters team uP When Venus Williams strolled onto No.2 Court with sister Serena for her ladies’ doubles second round match against Sabine Lisicki and Aleksandra Wozniak you couldn’t help but notice the mammoth taping operation that had taken place on her left leg. She had warned the press the previous day that she would be wearing the sticky stuff purely for “support purposes” and it certainly did the trick. The movement of the defending Wimbledon champion – in both singles and doubles - was not hindered in the slightest in the second round encounter and the siblings, seeded fourth, worked like clockwork to pick off a straightforward 6-1, 6-4 victory in just under an hour. Elsewhere, another family affair took place when the top-seeded Bryan brothers took on Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer. The brotherhood proved to be in devastating form winning 82% of points on their first serve and wrapped up the match in a little over an hour. Coach David Macpherson, who was watching at the side of the court, said: “They [Bob and Mike] respected the guys and knew they almost defeated Bupathi and Knowles in Paris. But their returning was really sharp right from the beginning, they poached well and seemed to be really focused.” The ladies No.1 seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber had more of a battle on their hands against Poles Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska but stood their ground to clinch the first set 7-5 and take the second 6-2 as the evening closed in. There was also cause for celebration for the British contingent as wild cards James Auckland and Elena Baltacha disposed of Travis Parrott and Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to book a place in the second round.