Glamour girl Sabine Lisicki upset world No 5 Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-1 in a 60-minute demolition job yesterday to give Germany a winning start to their Hopman Cup tie against Russia in Perth.
"I've been working really hard in the last few weeks in the off-season so I'm really happy to win that match," Lisicki said.
"I want to get higher in the rankings.
"I did a great job last year so I'm looking forward to this year."
Igor Andreev later beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3 to enable Russia to level the match.
Twenty-year-old Lisicki, ranked 22nd in the world, broke Dementieva twice in the opening set to race out to a 5-1 lead before the Russian hit back, closing to within 5-4.
But Lisicki steadied and closed out the set with a powerful service game.
Dementieva's own service game fell to bits in the second set and Lisicki pounced in brutal fashion, breaking her highly-fancied opponent four times in a second set that lasted just 22 minutes.
Dementieva was clearly frustrated by her wayward play, with her 10th double fault of the match handing victory to Lisicki.
Dementieva struggled to counter Lisicki's powerful return of serve which the German said had been a major focus in recent times.
- AAP
Tennis: Upset for Dementieva
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