At bay at 0-3 down in the first set of her Wimbledon semifinal against Sabine Lisicki, Maria Sharapova must have felt like she was facing a distorted ghost from her past. Lisicki, the Birmingham champion on a 10-match grass-court winning streak, was the younger underdog showing no fear. But as I wrote previously, there comes a moment in most of these plucky stories—outside of the movies—when a champion steps up and restores order. That was Sharapova’s task today and she was equal to it, defeating Lisicki, 6-4, 6-3, for her first Wimbledon final appearance since she won the title in 2004.
After an excruciatingly nervous start, Sharapova finally won a point off her second serve with a forehand winner and held for 1-3. It would prove to be the beginning of the end for the sunny German. Sharapova’s returning has been impressive this Wimbledon, and with Lisicki failing to make the aces that had marked her run to this point, it was a big return from Sharapova that got her back on serve. Looking progressively more dialed-in as Lisicki’s game faded away, Sharapova’s returning earned her another break at 5-4, and she served out the first set with the aid of her punishing cross-court forehand.
Lisicki’s confidence and accuracy had utterly deserted her, and she double-faulted away a break at the beginning of the second set. Down 0-30 on her next service game as rain started to fall, she was desperate to stop play and attempt to regroup. Denied by the umpire—rightly, as it turned out, as the rain soon disappeared—she was broken to 15. Two double-faults by Sharapova in the next game pegged the fifth seed back to a single break, but Lisicki was once again unable to make her serve or forehand hold up. With Sharapova serving at 4-1 in perhaps the most pivotal game of the match, Lisicki earned two break points, but Sharapova’s groundstrokes were at their fearsome best; she saved both with clean winners off both wings to hold.
With nothing to lose, Lisicki’s first serve and explosive forehand finally returned and swung freely; she not only held for the first time in the second set but broke Sharapova as the Russian served for the match. It was too little, too late, however, as Sharapova’s brilliant returning off Lisicki’s serve let her break for the match and her first Grand Slam final since the 2008 Australian Open.
Lisicki left the court smiling, with much to be proud of despite her disappointing performance, but it’s Sharapova who will play Petra Kvitova for the title on Saturday. She must be understandably concerned, however, about today's 13 double faults—some consecutive, at least one in every service game. Sharapova will have to hope for a better serving day against Kvitova, or for the Czech to be as nervous and unable to capitalize as Lisicki.
—Hannah Wilks