Defending ASB Classic champion Yanina Wickmayer was pushed to three sets in her second round match in Auckland today and she was forced to raise her game to its highest level to see off Germany's Sabine Lisicki.
The Belgian won 6-2 3-6 6-2 in five minutes short of two hours and will go on to play Simona Halep from Romania in tomorrow's quarterfinal.
Lisicki, who is on the comeback trail after an injury ravaged 2010, looks like being a player who could have a strong year ahead of her and the performances she's put on this week would indicate she is getting back to the form that took her to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2009.
Lisicki didn't play as badly in the first set as the 6-2 score line would suggest and it was just that she wasn't able to raise her game for the big points as Wickmayer did that cost her.
The second set was a similarly tight affair but this time it was the German that came out on top, to cause a surprise and take the match into a final set.
Wickmayer got a service break early in the third set and throughout it played at the same level she reached against Dinara Safina yesterday in the first round.
After the match Wickmayer said she knew she had to raise her game to grab the deciding set.
"After the second set I knew I had to do something more to win the match otherwise I knew it was going to go the other way," Wickmayer said.
"I wanted to put it up to another level and play some great tennis.
"She's a great player and has had some bad luck with injuries and I knew it was going to be a tough match.
"I tried to be a lot more aggressive and lift my game, it wasn't that easy with the wind and maybe a risk in making more mistakes, but that's the game I wanted to play and I'm so happy now."
Meanwhile Britain's Anne Keothavong has failed to follow her compatriot Heather Watson into the quarterfinals and was knocked out today 7-5 6-3 by Kateryna Bondarenko.
In the last match today, the tournament's second seed Julia Georges from Germany defeated France's Alize Cornet 6-2 6-4. She will play Kateryna Bondarenko in the quarterfinals.
The Belgian won 6-2 3-6 6-2 in five minutes short of two hours and will go on to play Simona Halep from Romania in tomorrow's quarterfinal.
Lisicki, who is on the comeback trail after an injury ravaged 2010, looks like being a player who could have a strong year ahead of her and the performances she's put on this week would indicate she is getting back to the form that took her to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2009.
Lisicki didn't play as badly in the first set as the 6-2 score line would suggest and it was just that she wasn't able to raise her game for the big points as Wickmayer did that cost her.
The second set was a similarly tight affair but this time it was the German that came out on top, to cause a surprise and take the match into a final set.
Wickmayer got a service break early in the third set and throughout it played at the same level she reached against Dinara Safina yesterday in the first round.
After the match Wickmayer said she knew she had to raise her game to grab the deciding set.
"After the second set I knew I had to do something more to win the match otherwise I knew it was going to go the other way," Wickmayer said.
"I wanted to put it up to another level and play some great tennis.
"She's a great player and has had some bad luck with injuries and I knew it was going to be a tough match.
"I tried to be a lot more aggressive and lift my game, it wasn't that easy with the wind and maybe a risk in making more mistakes, but that's the game I wanted to play and I'm so happy now."
Meanwhile Britain's Anne Keothavong has failed to follow her compatriot Heather Watson into the quarterfinals and was knocked out today 7-5 6-3 by Kateryna Bondarenko.
In the last match today, the tournament's second seed Julia Georges from Germany defeated France's Alize Cornet 6-2 6-4. She will play Kateryna Bondarenko in the quarterfinals.
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