WIMBLEDON 2011: Li Upset, Serena Survives, Raja Cruises

Sabine Lisicki celebrates her 3-6 6-4 8-6 victory over
 2011 French Open champ Li Na at Wimbledon 2nd Round
(photo credit: LEON NEAL)

Day 4 of Wimbledon's highlights was the upset defeat of #3 seed Li Na by German 21-year-old Sabine Lisicki in a tough, hard-hitting match 3-6 6-4 8-6.  Li had two match points on Lisicki's serve at 4-5 in the third set which were erased by four ridiculously huge serves over 120mph in a row, half of which were aces. Lisicki had Serena-like numbers on her serve, ending with 17 aces for the match.

The other stand-out match of  the day was the showdown between Lleyton Hewitt and Robin Soderling. The 2002 Wimbledon champion and former World #1 from Australia outplayed the current World #5 from Sweden for the first two and a half sets but succumbed in a thrilling 6-7(5) 3-6 7-5 6-4 6-4 instant classic lasting nearly 4 hours.

Speaking of Serena, she was outplayed for an entire set by Romanian teenager Simona Halep. The youngster's level dropped and Serena's level elevated midway in the second set and she basically ran away with the third set to win the match 3-6 6-2 6-1.

Other winners on Day 4 were Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martin del Potro and Nicolas Almagro. Almagro took out John Isner in the second round after the American had made quick work of his 2010 (and 2011) 1st round opponent Nicolas Mahut. Federer is yet to lose a set, but will face his one-time nemesis (and 2002 Wimbledon finalist) David Nalbandian in the third round.

On the women's side Francesca Schiavone, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, Ana Ivanovic and Julia Georges with Seed #14 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Seed #13 Agnieska Radwanska losing.

Djokovic Beats Nadal To Win Indian Wells; Woz Wins

World #2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia poses with his BNP Paribas Open trophy (AFP/Gabriel Bouys)

Novak Djokovic continued his unprecedented start to 2011 by notching his 18th consecutive match win and 3rd consecutive tournament title. Djokovic, 23, defeated World #1 Rafael Nadal 4-6 6-3 6-2 for the first time in a ATP Tour final, one day after outlasting an error-prone Roger Federer 6-3 3-6 6-2. The Serbian is clearly the hottest player on tour, and becomes only the third player to have beaten Federer and Nadal in the same tournament twice, joining Nikolay Davydenko and David Nalbandian.

The BNP Paribas Open title was Djokovic's 21st ATP Tour title, his second at Indian Wells, following his previous win in 2008 and avenging his 2007 loss in the final to Nadal. It was his 6th ATP Masters Series title.

On the Women's side, World #1 Caroline Wozniacki beat Marion Bartoli 6-1 2-6 6-3. The Frenchwoman will return to the Top 10 when the new rankings are released on Monday.