Missed opportunity: Lesicki and Kerber in Bad Homburg

It was all over in the quarter-finals – however Sabine Lisicki in Bad Homburg proved she is on her way back after a long struggle. Angelique Kerber has also been eliminated.

A final salute to the audience, then a frustrated Sabine Lisicki vanished into the catacombs – and at first far from the public eye. In Bad Homburg, the former Wimbledon player returned to the tennis stage on the WTA Tour – for three matches where she showed her great potential. Only in the quarter-finals on Thursday was she eliminated. However, this is painful.

A little later, defending champion Angelique Kerber had to pack her things. The former world number one lost to Frenchman Alize Cornet 4:6, 6:2, 1:6 and got damped shortly before the start of the Grand Slam classic at Wimbledon (from June 27).

Lisicki missed opportunity after chance in 3:6, 6:7 (7:9) against France’s Caroline Garcia Lisicki. She did not use any of the 12 breakout balls nor any of the set pieces in the second-round tiebreak. The typical Lisicki smile that fans had seen in Kurpark for several days gave way to a petrified expression.

But with some distance, the pride should return. In her victories against Tamara Korbach (Hamburg) and Greet Minin (Belgium), but also in the defeat to former top 10 player Garcia, Lesicki (32) proved she is on her way back after years of struggle.

Beating the beat, game after game, it now feels “a lot like old Sabine,” Lesicki said Wednesday. And that’s a nice feeling after the last few very difficult years.” ‘Old Sabine’ – that means risking and feeling the grass. She sent out nine aces and eight double faults against Garcia, beating the 50-winner with 40 fouls.

Garcia said after match point that you always have to be on guard against Lisicki. “An ace or a win can come at any time,” said the winner. “It’s very stressful.” But it was great to see Lesicki on the tour again: “It’s always dangerous, especially on the grass.”

The Berlin player celebrated her greatest success there and was in the 2013 Wimbledon final. This year she will miss All England after long breaks with glandular fever and a total loss of a knee, Lisicki will have to struggle her way back to the top of the world. She started her work in Bad Homburg. During the quarter-finals, she climbed 300 places in the world rankings – pretty much exactly 500.