AFP, Hong Kong :
Sabine Lisicki justified her top seeding by winning the inaugural WTA Hong Kong Open 7-5, 6-3 against Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic on Sunday.
The German had endured a lean time on tour since losing the Wimbledon final to Marion Bartoli last year, tumbling out of the world’s top 30.
And despite the straight-sets scoreline, it was a far from a straightforward victory in an error-strewn match at Victoria Park.
The Czech third seed had seemed on course to avenge her second-round defeat to the German at Wimbledon this year when she raced into a 5-1 lead in the first set, breaking Lisicki’s serve twice.
But Lisicki, who at that point was managing to put only a woeful 40 per cent of her first serves into play, slowly got into her stride to spark a remarkable run in which she broke back twice to level at 5-5. Pliskova again had chances to break as Lisicki faltered to 15-40 in the 11th game.
But the Czech world number 36 couldn’t take advantage and a loose return way out into the tramlines on her second break point caused her to slam her racquet down in disgust.
Lisicki served out for her fifth game in a row and squandered one set point on Pliskova’s serve in the next game, but a searing backhand crosscourt pass in the best rally of the match sealed the set 7-5.
