Venus Ousted by Lisicki in Toronto Opener
German Sabine Lisicki had to wait out a long rain delay to defeat American Venus Williams on Monday night, but did so in routine fashion, beating the American 6-0, 6-3 in a first-round matchup at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
The two didn’t take to the court until after 10:00 p.m. on Monday night, as most of the women’s draw matches were rained out prior to that time. Venus looked rusty early on, and struggled throughout the match.
“I really had an off day,” said Venus. “It was definitely a long wait and tough to not warm up. My opponent and I were under the same conditions, and she played really well.”
As rusty as Venus looked, Lisiciki was very efficient as well. She saved the only two break points she faced and won 79 percent of her first service points. She took advantage of seven double-faults from Williams and won in just over an hour.
“Against Venus you have to play well to be able to beat her,” said Lisicki. “You have to be ready and fight for every point, and I’m very pleased with my performance.”
Lisicki will play the winner of the match between Barbora Strycova and American Varvara Lepchenko.
The only other match played on the women’s side on Monday saw Italian Flavia Pennetta beat Gabriela Dabrowski 6-4, 6-1. Pennetta will play top-seed and world number one Serena Williams next.
