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MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AFP) –
Big-hitting German Sabine Lisicki, pictured in action on February 9, 2013. will be gunning for a fourth WTA tour crown on Saturday when she takes on Marina Erakovic in the women’s title match at the US Indoor Tennis Championships.
Big-hitting German Sabine Lisicki will be gunning for a fourth WTA tour crown on Saturday when she takes on Marina Erakovic in the women’s title match at the US Indoor Tennis Championships.
Lisicki, the third seed, fell behind in each set but dug deep for a 7-5, 7-5 victory over seventh-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova on Friday in the semi-finals of this combined ATP and WTA event.
Rybarikova led 5-2 in the first set with set point, and led 5-4 in the second set with set point.
But Lisicki held on and won the last five games of the first set and the last three games of the second to reach a seventh career final.
New Zealand’s Erakovic defeated Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele 6-2, 6-4 to earn a shot at a first WTA title.
She’ll be playing in her third career final, after runner-up finishes at Quebec City in 2011 and in Memphis last year.
“I thought today was a pretty tight match,” said Erakovic, who trailed 4-2 in the second set.
“I felt like both of us were nervous at the beginning but I managed to shake off those nerves in the first set and get going. The second set was tight, but I managed to get the break back and squeeze out the set, so I’m very happy.”
In men’s quarter-final action on Friday, top-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic took on fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan, Aussie Marinko Matosevic faced seventh-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, Spain’s Feliciano Lopez played US wildcard Jack Sock, and lucky loser Michael Russell faced Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin.
