The opening set couldn't have been closer, with Williams just squeaking it out in a tie-break, and she broke in the first game of the second set too.
But the script flipped the other way from there, as Lisicki reeled off six games in a row to run away with that second set, 6-1, maintaining a completely even winners-to-unforced errors differential (3 to 3) while Williams went completely awry (5 to 17).
Williams was even in a little bit of early trouble in the third set, falling behind 15-30 serving in the first game, but there's a reason she has 19 Grand Slam titles - she pulled off one last momentum shift, holding that game and eventually building a 3-0 lead, and the two went into a holding pattern from there until the No.1-seeded American finally closed out the No.27-seeded German, 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-3. "Today wasn't my best day," Williams said afterwards. "I wasn't serving the way I normally serve or hitting the way I normally hit, so all I could do was just fight and try to give 200% instead of 100%. "At the start of the third set it was definitely a little bit of a natural reaction. Obviously I don't want to lose, or at least I want to try to do the best I can. She had a lot of momentum going into the third set after winning the second set, so I just wanted to stay strong, and basically hold my serve."
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