Player of the week: Sabine Lisicki

Although she had already shown in some matches that she was able to produce high level tennis, German youngster Sabine Lisicki still lacked of the regularity and mental strength to become a WTA champion.


But this week in Charleston she has shown her progress wining her first WTA title, and she did in a Premier event with some remarkable wins. And furthermore, she has done without losing a set in the whole tournament, and losing no more than 6 games in the quarters, semis and finals. After unnoticed victories over Pelletier and Wienerova in the early rounds, Lisicki got all the attention after upsetting favourite and WTA #5 Venus Williams in the Last-16 round, playing at a very high level. And unlikely other times, this time Sabine was able to keep this high level until the final, sweeping Elena Vesnina by 6/4 6/0 and Marion Bartoli by 6/4 6/1 and defeating in the final one of the best players this year, Danish Caroline Wozniacki, who was the champion last week in Pontevedra Beach and was in a 9 consecutive victories streak, by 6/2 6/4. Everyone in Charleston was astonished with her game and now she is considered to have one of the most devastating forehand shots in the Tour.


With this victory, Sabine breaks into the Top-50 for the first time, moving from #63 to a career-high ranking at #43. But if she can play as she did last week in Charleston, it is clear that she will get much higher.