Sabine Lisicki was on the brink of repeating her Wimbledon straight-sets defeat of Maria Sharapova, but let victory slip through her fingers and ultimately fell in three sets to the Russian, who won 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-3.
Whether it was the "Olympics factor" or the hunger for revenge over the opponent who put her out of Wimbledon, it was a subtly but disconcertingly different Sharapova who took the court in the opening set. One of the biggest cliches in tennis is Sharapova’s stone-faced lack of open emotion, but she showed plenty of negativity, even banging her racquet in the ground several times (the equivalent of a full-on Richie Tenenbaum-style meltdown from another player). She was also very deliberately dancing around as Lisicki served, taking bouncy steps to her left as Lisicki threw the ball up; I’ve never seen her do that before and it’s hard not to conclude that the intent was to rattle the German and neutralize her biggest weapon. Both women saved break points early in the match, then settled to a tense exchange of first-strike tennis before Lisicki, well, struck first, breaking to lead 5-3 with big groundstrokes after a double fault and error by Sharapova.
Not for the first time, Lisicki could not consolidate the break and the set went to a remarkably intense, competitive, high-quality tiebreak in which both women hit second serves that were faster and riskier than their first deliveries. Sharapova not only held three set points, she had a golden opportunity at 6-6 on Lisicki’s serve when she had a short ball on top of the net and drove it right back to Lisicki, letting the German play a sensational reflex backhand pass. A few points later, Lisicki took the tie break 10-8 after a huge backhand return.
When in doubt, Sharapova goes back to what she knows and she quickly reverted to her usual unemotional self, even when she played a dreadful service game at 3-3 in the second including three double faults to be broken. Lisicki was two service holds away from the match — and needed, after two long three-setters in the opening rounds, to take it in straights — but threw in three double faults of her own to be broken back, then another to be broken at love for the set. Although Lisicki broke to take the advantage at the beginning of the third set, once again she couldn’t hold and began to look tired, despairing and leaden-legged. In comparison, Sharapova was more intense than ever and although Lisicki fought gamely, Sharapova forced the break to lead 5-3.
I was thinking, during Sharapova’s last match, that "better on big points" ought to be her epitaph when her tennis career comes to an end and she proved it once again. Serving for a big revenge win, she played an almost flawless game, giving Lisicki no opportunity to pressurize her, and in the end hit her ninth ace to take the match. Now only Kim Clijsters stands between Sharapova and the medal rounds.