On the surface she loves, Sabine Lisicki eases past Karolina Pliskova, one of the best servers in the ladies' game. The smell of grass, the feel of grass and the sheer joy of playing on that surface seem to do wonders for Sabine Lisicki.
The Florida-based German, runner-up here 12 months ago, was in frolicking form on No.3 Court as she moved impressively into the last 32 of the ladies’ singles by defeating Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 in one hour 19 minutes. Lisicki had beaten the same opponent with rather more difficulty in three sets on the clay of Madrid earlier this year, when she was still making her way back to full match fitness following a shoulder injury, so she was especially happy that her game was approaching its more formidable level on the surface she enjoys best. “In Madrid I still had problems with my injury so I was struggling a little bit there,” Lisicki explained. “But I’m feeling much better here. I was ready for it. I know she can hit very good serves, so I needed to be ready.” This contest had been billed as The Big Bash, since Pliskova came into this match as the leading server of aces in the ladies’ game this year with 233 – better even than Serena Williams – while Lisicki’s 297 aces in the 2013 season was second only to Serena, and 45 of those aces were struck at the 2013 Championships. On the day Lisicki ran out a clear winner in this department, with seven aces to Pliskova’s two, though she also led the Czech in the less desirable area of double-faults by five to two.
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