It might have taken the casual observer a few moments to identify which of the players was which, but in a battle of young, on-the-rise, blonde Germans, Angelique Kerber beat Sabine Lisicki, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 7-5.
Lisicki, two years younger, had more experience on this particular stage, playing her third Wimbledon quarterfinal; Kerber, who lost in the first round of Wimbledon last year before an improbable run to the U.S. Open semifinals launched her into the top echelon of the game, was playing for the first time on Centre Court. It was the neophyte who started much better. After her success against Maria Sharapova, Lisicki showed the flipside of her high-risk game, being broken immediately and spending much of the quick first set blasting wild errors off the court.
Kerber can crush the ball when she likes, but the left-hander is a more cautious player by nature and at her best when she can think her way through matches. She constructed points beautifully throughout the first set, hitting with great depth to prevent Lisicki teeing off on short balls, and moving her compatriot around the court with her solid, hefty backhand. As an increasingly erratic Lisicki double-faulted twice to give up the first set, then again to give up the break early in the second, Kerber’s smarter and more patient approach looked set to secure her a straight-sets victory.
With Lisicki serving at 0-3, 30-30, the match turned on a dime as she managed for the first time to stay steady in the face of Kerber’s phenomenal defense, driving three big forehands into the corners before she got the winner. Lisicki suddenly loosened up and began to actually play tennis instead of simply blasting the ball, breaking back and serving her first love game to consolidate. Kerber lost the Eastbourne final to Tamira Paszek after holding five match points, and she seemed to be reliving that nightmare as Lisicki, serving at 4-5, saved two against her, the first with a huge backhand winner and the second with a reckless charge into net and winning volley. A third came and went in the tiebreaker as Lisicki hammered another backhand winner, and down 7-8, Kerber mystifyingly left a ball which skidded off the baseline. To a third set it went.
Although Kerber broke to open the third, she looked frustrated and dejected, her shoulders slumping as Lisicki immediately broke back. The match rapidly deflated from the scintillating heights of the second set as Kerber retreated into defensive play, relying on her opponent’s errors. Given that her opponent was Lisicki, it was a relatively fruitful strategy, but two poor service games left Lisicki serving for the match at 5-3.
Angrily, Kerber lashed out at the ball and immediately broke back, then the match turned—again—as Kerber, almost 0-30 down, made her first successful Hawkeye challenge of the day. She flung up her arms in celebration and seemed to no longer feel that everything was against her, breaking an error-prone Lisicki and eventually winning on her fifth match point. It was a battling performance, not least in subduing the restless ghosts of Eastbourne, and it earns Kerber a maiden semifinal at Wimbledon.
—Hannah Wilks