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By: Tony Callaio
Thursday’s matches opened up at the Family Circle Cup under a deep blue sky with ten seeds in action including No. 5 Caroline Wozniacki looking to complete the American clay court sweep, fresh off her win at Ponte Vedra Beach last week.
Wozniacki took on No. 10 seed Shaui Peng of China on Althea Gibson Club Court, defeating the 23-year old, 6-3, 6-4.
“I felt like I was playing really well for like one-and-a-half sets, but you know, I kind of felt a little bit tired,” said Wozniacki when questioned on the close second set. Wozniacki was referring to her schedule over the last few weeks that included playing at Memphis, Miami, Indian Wells and Ponte Vedra.
She now faces No. 13 seed, Virginie Razzno of France, in the quarterfinals.
The 2004 Family Circle Cup champion and this year’s No. 2 seed, Venus Williams, carried an 11-2 lifetime record at the Cup entering today’s match against No. 16 seed Sabine Lisicki of Germany. This was the first meeting between the two.
Williams, who has amassed over $22 million in her career, drew a bye in the first round and notched a three-set victory over highly touted Sania Mirza of India in the second round.
Lisciki looked fresh off her win over Lenka Wienerova of Sloviak the day before, which advanced her into the round of sixteen.
Lisicki served the first game of the match at love, ending with an ace. She consistently served well throughout the match frustrating Williams. “I’m confident with my serve. Sometimes I’m struggling, but you know, in the important points I could really count on my serve, which was very good,” said Lisicki. “I was sometimes risking a little bit, but you know, I just went for it.” She had four aces in total, three in second set.
Williams struggled with her groundstrokes in the first set but still managed to pull ahead 4-2 before Lisicki rattled off four straight games breaking the World No. 5 twice along the way taking the set, 6-4.
Lisicki’s groundstrokes were penetrating as she moved about the court effortlessly forcing Williams’ shots. “I just, you know, made a few errors at the wrong time, and she played some great shots,” said Williams.
The pair got into a tiebreak with Lisicki edging Williams, 7-5, taking the second set and the match. This was one of Lisicki’s biggest match wins next to beating Lindsay Davenport in her first Fed Cup match in her career.
“I knew, you know, I’m playing good,” said Lisicki. “I knew that I could have a good match against her and then winning the first set, of course, gives you a lot of confidence, so I was really glad that I could take that first set.”
See photos from the match here.
 No. 1 seed and Wild Card Elena Dementieva (RUS) had an easy time over American Varvara Lepchenko, 6-1, 6-1 in a little over an hour. She has only dropped four games in her last two matches.
No. 4 seed Nadia Petrova of Russia and the 2006 Cup Champion, was upset by Melinda Czink, ranked 82 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Vera Zvonareva, the No. 3 seed took a spill, turning her ankle on Stadium Court against No. 13 seed Virginie Razzno of France. She was forced to retire at 1-1.
Other Round of 16 matches:
[6] Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Melanie Oudin (USA) 6-4, 6-1
[7] Dominika Cibulkova (SLK) d. Anastasia Rodionova (RUS) 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3
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