Tennis: Lisicki battles through to next round

Sabine Lisicki (GER) in action. Photo / Dean Purcell.

Sabine Lisicki was hoping to get to Piha this week and her tennis today was nearly as wild as the surf at the West Coast beach as she battled through to the quarterfinals at the ASB Classic tennis tournament in Auckland.

The top seed made hard work of her second-round match against fellow German Mona Barthel, winning 7-6 (2) 3-6 6-3 in two hours and 23 minutes.

It was often excruciating viewing, as both players made more than 110 unforced errors in the match - Lisicki made 66 - but the world No 15 finally took control in the third set as she played with more aggression and control.

A rain delay of 90 minutes didn't help, which saw organisers shift two games from centre court to the back courts to fit it all in, and the weather forecast is for showers to hit Auckland for the rest of the week.

"I'm happy to get through," a relieved Lisicki said. "I improved from my last match. I didn't play consistently enough to win in two sets but the most important thing when you don't play your best tennis is to find a way to win.

"We were working on a couple of things. I didn't go to the net at the right time some times. I need to train it to get better. My goal is to get better and get to the top in the tennis world. You sometimes have to sacrifice. I'm not perfect."

Lisicki tonight pulled out of the doubles due to an injury described as a lower leg cramp. It was thought to be precautionary but it ends the involvement in the tournament of her partner Peng Shuai, the singles second seed, who lost in straight sets to Lucie Hradecka earlier in the day.

Fifth seed Julia Goerges was far from it today as she went down 6-2 6-3 to fellow German Angelique Kerber, who ousted Marina Erakovic in three sets last night. Goerges has been suffering a heavy cold and her two-and-a-half hour struggle against defending champion Greta Arn yesterday had clearly taken its toll.

Kerber and Lisicki meet in tomorrow's quarterfinals, meaning one German will qualify for the last four.

Goerges wasn't the only seed to fall at Stanley St today, with Roberta Vinci beaten by Russian Elena Vesnina 6-3 6-4.

The sixth seeded Italian struggled to find her rhythm in the match on Court 2 and Vesnina took advantage to win in straight sets.

Vesnina, ranked 57 in the world, has some form in Auckland having made it through to the 2009 final before being beaten by fellow Russian Elena Dementieva.

She will meet fourth seed Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals, after the Italian navigated past Briton Elena Baltacha 6-4 6-2 in her second-round match.

Pennetta looms as a dangerous player on the top half of the draw. The former world No 12 and 2010 runner-up has spent the last five years in the world's top 25 and has won nine singles titles in her career.

She beat Vesnina in their last outing in Luxembourg last year and holds a three-two advantage over the Russian.

"I would like to feel better but we are all in the same situation," she said. "It's the first tournament of the year. It's not easy to be consistent all the time. You have [your] ups and downs. The season is long so if it doesn't come this week it will come next week... I hope."