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Venus Williams' week in Charleston ended far earlier than expected, as the world No. 5 was surprised by German rising star Sabine Lisicki in a see-saw straight-setter in the round of 16 Thursday afternoon, 6-4, 7-6(5).
Williams, the No. 2 seed, seemed to be in sharp form as she built leads of 4-2 in the first set and 5-3 in the second set; but her level dipped slightly and the opportunistic Lisicki raised hers every time. The 19-year-old built a 6-3 lead in the second set tie-break, ending it on her third match point.
"It's a great victory beating Venus Williams. She's just a great champion. I still can't really believe I won," said Lisicki, who out-aced Williams in the match, 4-3. "It's one of my biggest wins. I think my win against Lindsay Davenport was really big as well, representing my country and beating her in my very first Fed Cup experience. But beating Venus Williams here was just awesome."
It was Lisicki's second win over a Top 10 player, her first coming against a No. 6-ranked Anna Chakvetadze at Miami last year in her first career match against one of the world's Top 10. She has been to the quarters or better at a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event three times before, a quarterfinalist at Cincinnati last summer, a runner-up at Tashkent last fall and a semifinalist at Memphis this year.
In the quarterfinals on Friday, Lisicki will take on Elena Vesnina, who won a tight two-setter against Viktoriya Kutuzova later in the day, 7-6(4) 7-5.
The upsets didn't stop with Williams, as No. 4 seed Nadia Petrova was ousted in a marathon match against Melinda Czink, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, rallying from 5-3 down in the third to earn her first career Top 10 win against the world No. 10. The Hungarian will next face No. 6 seed Marion Bartoli, who bested qualifier Melanie Oudin in the first match of the day on Stadium court, 6-4, 6-1.
The tournament's top seed, Elena Dementieva, didn't have any trouble in her match, ending the run of Varvara Lepchenko, 6-1, 6-1. She will next face No. 7 seed Dominika Cibulkova, who rallied past Anastasia Rodionova, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3.
"It was a good win for me today and it'll be a tough match tomorrow," Dementieva said. "I'll have to improve some aspects of my game but stay very aggressive like today, and just stay focused. We'll see if I can do it tomorrow."
"Anastasia was playing well and putting pressure on me," Cibulkova said of her third round match. "I had set point in the first set and blew it. It was tough to get back in the second set but I fought through it, and in the third I felt a lot better."
The other winner in the day session was No. 5 seed Caroline Wozniacki, who beat No. 10 seed Peng Shuai, 6-3, 6-4. She will next face No. 13 seed Virginie Razzano, who advanced under the lights on Thursday when No. 3 seed Vera Zvonareva retired at 1-1 in the first set after injuring her right ankle.
None of the quarterfinals will be first-time meetings: Dementieva is 2-1 against Cibulkova; Wozniacki is 1-0 against Razzano; Bartoli is 1-0 against Czink; and Vesnina and Lisicki are tied, 1-1.
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