Nobody gave her much of a chance heading into the match, and she was given even less of a chance after falling behind by a set and a double-break against hard-hitting Sabine Lisicki, but somehow 44-year-old living legend Kimiko Date-Krumm turned the tilt on its ear to upset the World No. 24 in stunning fashion at the Bank of the West Classic on Tuesday night.
Perhaps Date-Krumm summed it up best after her 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 shocker when she simply said “It’s a miracle” during her on-court interview.
More important, it was a much-needed miracle for Date-Krumm, who has dropped way down in the rankings this season (current perch: 173) and had gone the full year without a Tour-level victory. But her drought ended this evening, with a little help from a flummoxed Lisicki.
The victory is Date-Krumm’s first over a Top-25 player since March of 2014 and just her second career win at Stanford. In 2010 she upset Dinara Safina in the first round before losing an entertaining three-setter to Elena Dementieva.
But all credit for the victory must go to the Japanese. At 6-1, 4-1 down she started to read and react to Lisicki’s serve and turned up the aggression on her returns. Suddenly Date-Krumm was finding the court even when faced with Lisicki’s overpowering pace, and that change in dynamic seemed to prey upon the nerves of the German. The errors came more freely off Lisicki’s racquet as the match continued.
Still, it felt like the German would come good in straight sets despite the blown lead when she fought off two set points to level at 5-all in the second set with some courageous shotmaking.
But Date-Krumm was energized by the possibility of pushing Lisicki to a decider and she didn’t drop her level. She remained on the attack, wreaking havoc with her flat inside-out forehand and her kamikaze forays to the net.
After stealing the third-set tiebreaker, Date-Krumm quickly went up a break in set three, and Lisicki seemed to lose heart from there. The double-break came soon thereafter and the Japanese didn’t flinch when serving for the match with a 5-2 lead.
It was all over but the smiling. A hard-earned victory for an ageless wonder.
Her victory sets up an improbable second-round encounter with Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. Date-Krumm fell to the rising Pliskova in straight sets last year at Stanford.
In the first match of the evening, Angelique Kerber snatched a routine victory over Daria Gavrilova, 6-1, 6-3.
Kerber will meet 17-year-old Ana Konjuh in the second round.
Twitter Reacts to Date-Krumm’s Victory