Third seeded Li slumped to a 3-6 6-4 8-6 second round loss to wildcard Lisicki who saved two match points in the ninth game of the third set with back-to-back serves which cracked the 120mph barrier.
Lisicki collapsed to her knees in tears on the covered Centre Court when she clinched the gripping tie with victory secured on her third match point in the 14th game of the deciding set.
It was the German's booming serve which proved crucial as she fired 17 aces and powered down 21 winners in the 2hr 11min encounter.
“From the first point until the end of the match, every serve was like 117mph. It's impossible for women,” said Li.
“We both played a great match. I was just a little unlucky. I had two match points but I couldn't do anything about them.”
The 21-year-old Lisicki, whose career suffered a huge setback in 2010 when a serious left ankle injury sidelined her for four months, will tackle Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi for a place in the last 16.
“It's been terrible. I had no muscles in my left calf after seven weeks on crutches. So I had to start to learn how to walk again,” said Lisicki, a quarter-finalist in 2009.
She next faces Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi, who put out China's Zheng Jie, and will again be looking to capitalise on her booming serve.
“I have always had a powerful serve. I think it's one of the best on women's tennis,” said the world number 62.
Defending champion Serena Williams struggled over three sets to defeat Romanian teenager Simona Halep 3-6 6-2 6-1, before sparking a sexism storm after her match was relegated to Court Two.
Williams's next opponent is Russia's Maria Kirilenko who defeated Tamarine Tanasugarn in the Thai's 15th consecutive Wimbledon.
Serbian 18th seed Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion and who made the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2007, eased past Greek world No121 Eleni Daniilidou 6-3 6-0.
The 23-year-old next faces Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic, who put out Polish 13th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, for a place in the last 16.
Svetlana Kuznetsova, the Russian 12th seed, and a two-time Grand Slam title winner, beat Romania's Alexandra Dulgheru 6-0 6-2 to set up a meeting with Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer, the 19th seed.
Birthday girl Francesca Schiavone, the sixth seed and 2010 Roland Garros champion, was also a winner on the day she turned 30 as the Italian beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-3.
Rain delays on the outside courts meant that top seed Caroline Wozniacki's tie with France's Virginie Razzano and 2004 champion Maria Sharapova's match aganist 17-year-old British wildcard Laura Robson, were held over until tonight
12 comments:
This year Li Na hasn't played well outside the slams. Licki's booming serve broke down the will of Na in the ninth game. Twice Na was serving to close the match and she didn't. Like the Bunny, her smiles and jokes were MIA as she stormed off the court.
A big Booooooooo to the rain.
Captain where can I find a photo of Kvitova standing next to Cibulkova?
The rain is definetly bugging me! Wimbledon should look into getting more roofs!
Regarding the pic of team twins - ill try to find one for you :) in the time being, if any one finds one feel free to share!
OT: Just updated to Firefox 5 and its faster than 4. (Just go to 'help' and 'about' then it'll update automatically.)
Carlos, I finally got a reply back from my anti virus company and they say the octoshape 'plugin' was a false positive. So, its safe to use on Tennis Channel.
McHale/Kerber won their doubles match.
Robson leading Divapova in the first set 2-0 and on serve.
Petko looks so much better in this Wimbledon outfit than her usual fare.
On a related note: #89 K.Pervak is winning 6-4, 4-3.
Pekto loses to Pervak 6-4, 7-6!
Ostrich up 6-3, 5-2 against Vinci.
T.Pironkova is leading Vera 6-2, 3-1.
Thanks for the updates Caps321.
Out of curiosity did Petkovic did that stripper dance after she lost? Didn't she say that she was retiring her dance? Wouldn't that make her a lier and a hypocrite? Or was she only talking about her other silly dance?
I expected a more dominant play from Divapova, but she won in straight sets.
The Ostrich keeps moving on.
The Russian side lost two players today, Vera Z. who hasn't been playing well and Kuznetsova, didn't she care for Wimbledon either?
Angry Bird defeated Dani H. in three sets.
Captain if I find a photo of team Twins I'll post the link.
Caps321, Wednesday I upgraded to Firefox 5 but I lost my tool bar. It appears that tools bars that are out there are not comparable with Firefox 5.
I even forgot about Tennis Channel, I've been focusing on ESPN2 and ESPN3. Thank you for the info.
Carlos, not sure if Tennis Channel is offering free streaming for this tournament.
Yeah, sometimes certain add-ons/extensions aren't compatible with new versions right away.
Are you talking about Petko and Joker both inside the Hula Hoop? Or her old dance? I just watched a little bit and didn't see the end.
Caps just saw the hula hoop dance with the Joker, no that is not one I'm talking about. The one that I saw it was a short clip dancing ala hula hoop, on court, in the first round at Wimbledon. If I find a clip I'll post the link.
Hmmm, I thought Petko quit dancing on court?
Julia vs Cibulkova 2-2 in the first set on ESPN3.
Julia just gave this one away. Wow.
Apparently she didn't, she learn very well to be an Imbecile from her master.
Maybe Julia didn't like how her last name was being pronounce, again. :P
I thought Jarmilla was going to take down the Bunny but Jarmilla lost in straight sets.
Peng quietly moving on will face Divapova in 4th round.
The Fist Pumping Imbecile lost the first set.
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