BEFORE: While Sabine Lisicki planned to cherish her Wimbledon run to the final for the rest of 2013, fellow blonde Maria Kirilenko had other ideas and called the powerful German puncher into action, trying to make amends for her own downfall against Laura Robson. And one simply does not ignore Ms Kirilenko without a valid reason! Perhaps Sabine had something else in mind but jumps into the ring with just one clear thought; that's to give the Russian more trouble by blowing the doors off her in a true champion's style.

"Sabine is no champion", Maria scowls pre-fight, "and I'll prove it tonight. She's just someone who happened to find herself in the right place at the right time but it's all gonna change once I send her sobbing on the canvas!" There's a contrasting response from the German though as Lisicki claims that "Maria needs more stuffing knocked out of her so she finally realizes she's just one, hot mess in the ring! And I'm gonna make sure it stays that way after tonight's fight. If anyone's gonna be sobbing on the canvas, it's gonna be her! I will break her down and force to whimper her submission! She's worth that much and nothing more!"

Sabine Lisicki wearing a red bikini top, black knickers and golden gloves. Blonde hair tied in a braid. Maria Kirilenko wearing a green bikini top, denim boy-leg trunks and black gloves. Blonde hair tied in a braid.

Round 1:
Both girls start trading punches immediately from the bell with Lisicki keen to make as early statement as possible and she tags the Russian's jaw to secure the advantage, follows up over the top and spikes the cheeks as well, forcing Maria back. More shots from the German who looks to slice the guard again but Kirilenko holds her ground, gets pinned on the back foot though and eats a low jabbing series around the elbows with Lisicki switching her targets and finding success down the strech. Kirilenko swings around the head but fails to trouble her opponent as she lacks speed across the canvas and loses a quick exchange in mid-range, gets clipped on the jaw again and wobbles back but prevents the fellow blonde from pushing her all the way to the ropes and escapes at the last moment with Sabine nearly bothering her chin one more time before the bell.

Round 2:
Sabine's keen to test Maria's jaw after couple of good efforts in the previous round, she closes the Russian down and tries to uppercut the mitts but bounces off in fruitless fashion and eats an overhard hook on the eye instead with Kirilenko pushing forward but losing her balance after a mediocre footwork display, Lisicki with a counter hook on the jaw, snaps Maria's braid and connects with the cheeks before the arms could go up again... Sabine bats Maria's face with couple of more hooks and wobbles the suddenly cumbersome looking Russian back towards the ropes, clips the jaw which causes the sparks in her eyes to burst into flames and lands one more shot over the top, straight on the eye as Kirilenko has to wrap her right arm around the ropes in order to stay upright; Lisicki outraged by the move, pummels on the exposed breasts side and causes her foe to wince in pain but a left hook on the temple half-spins Maria around and she takes more punishment thereafter with Lisicki in frenzy mode, pounding away at the midriff but landing couple of rabbit shots on the kidneys as Kirilenko falls onto the turnbuckles but gets saved by the ref who drags the German away in no-nonsense fashion. Sabine looks over his shoulder and can do nothing about the Russian jumping back to safety but aching a bit already.

Round 3:
Sabine's visibly quicker of the two across the canvas and traps Maria in the middle of the ring with another jabbing series on the guts, switches high for an uppercut assault but bounces off the mitts and enables Kirilenko to clinch her. A brief struggle follows with Sabine finally managing to push her foe away but it's the Russian who throws noteworthy punch first as she crashes off Lisicki's nose and splits her mitts again with a heavy uppercut on the jaw and sags the German back. Sabine shakes her head but avoids more connection as she weaves away from the striking range; Maria springs into new life instead and keeps swinging around the head, fully realizes that another Laura Robson-like upset must be prevented and despite looking vulnerable in the previous round, she goes after Lisicki with more leather but just can't reach out after her and gets countered in the final minute with the German cleaning out her tummy again and clipping the breasts in close range. There's no big shot to the chin though and Sabine looks angry as she did barely enough to even the round with that late push.

Round 4:
Kirilenko with a sudden upgrade of pace, beats Lisicki for the first punch and tags her on the mouth, follows up with a flurry of shots downstairs and leaves the German confused and moaning in pain. Close range assault bounces off the chest and traps Lisicki in more Russian leather as Maria bats her on the ribcage and finally slows down to the point she can dish out more punishment, loud slaps off the German's ribs cause even louder moaning and Sabine covers up low but nearly gets headbutted by the charging Russian, quick hook on the temple misses and enables Maria to BLAST a right uppercut on the jaw and poor Sabine wobbles to the side, tries to raise her arms again but gets clobbered with another overhand hook on the nose AND CRASHES FLAT ON HER BACK as Kirilenko barks in a mix of anger and delight while Lisicki just can't believe what happened and leaps onto her feet without much thinking, refuses to take her time and wants immediate revenge... Kirilenko keeps her at bay for remainder of the round, slightly longer reach works to her favor as she clips the cheeks again and threatens to land a late combo on the temples, Sabine leans forward and seeks rack pounding, misses another hooking approach and finally settles into circling away as the Russian accepts the tactics despite looking to really hurt the German after that knockdown.

Round 5:
Kirilenko jumps into another furious attack after seeing Lisicki far from being done during the interval. Mental strenght wasn't the German's strongest suit so far in her career but that knockdown wiped out all the early good work and she knows it, responds to the Russian's slugfest invitation and cracks a series of jabs on the chest, pierces the mitts with a fine uppercut but gets her head snapped around herself as Kirilenko jabs over the top and gives her a faceful of leather; loud moaning from both sides as they keep trading vicious punches in the middle of the ring, no real tacitcs to speak off, just brainless bashing which has the Russian blinking first, perhaps unexpectedly, but Sabine buries a set of mitts to her jugs and pulls the air supply plug off, Maria suddenly gasps for oxygen but gets clubbed on the nose instead as she drops her arms too much, Lisicki on the front foot again, clips the chin and shatters the guard apart, reels the Russian back to the ropes but misses a key late hook - not for the first time tonight - and enables Kirilenko to step away from danger and see out the round in mid range with both girls breathing very hard at the half-way stage but Maria looks slightly tired of the two as she points at her boobs and indicates she really got caught out by the German's rack pounding in this round which wasn't exactly planned but nonetherless helped Sabine to take some momentum away from the menacing opponent.

Round 6:
Maria seeks more respite and she really looks much slower than at the beginning of the fight which doesn't escape Sabine's attention either, another vicious leather trading follows but this time it's Lisicki forcing the issue and Kirilenko just moans in anger as she misses a wide hooking approach which proves too slow for the fellow blonde; left hook clubs her on the chest and Sabine adds more moments later; clips Maria's jaw with an accurate uppercut and wobbles the Russian back.... so keen to avenge those close defeats from the past... she rips into Kirilenko's breasts and pummels them to the side as there's no footwork to save the Russian pride and the ammount of leather soon becomes too overwhelming with Maria swaying on her feet, covering up but coming second best in wake of a very spirited and ruthless attack; Sabine doesn't let the anger get in the way of her charge this time and sends Kirilenko spinning to the ropes, dekes under a slowish overhand response and bangs a clean drive on the navel; has the Russian yelping in pain but soaking up more punishment thereafter as Lisicki drills her ribcage pink and just buries her butt-in-ropes, shrugs off subsequent clinching attempt and signs off the round with a quick cross-hook on the mouth as a red-faced just opens her eyes and looks really affected by all this punching to her body, wraps her arms around the waist and spits out the mouthpiece in visible discomfort with Sabine on the verge of breaking her down according to the viewers.

Round 7:
Kirilenko's too slow to avoid more leather coming at her and Lisicki has the killer instinct written all over her face, still a knockdown behind but that almost seems irrelevant now as she surprises the Russian with a facial assault for a change, traps her in the middle of the ring again and works on the chin, snaps the braid around the neck and causes the arms to drop lower and lower as Maria's groans suggest the messy state of both body and mind... Hooking combo on the mouth slices the mitts with tremendous ease as Kirilenko just closes her eyes and accepts the punishment... can't break away to safety anymore and has Lisicki rocking her head back & forth with the arms going numb.... yet another left hook lands on the temples and finally evens the knockdown score.. MARIA HITS THE CANVAS FLAT ONTO HER FACE and looks in all sorts of bother, a pile of smoking mess to be honest while Sabine walks around her and shakes her glove to the crowd... Kirilenko's on all fours at six but sobbing in agony of inevitable result... Lisicki urges her to get up, wants to really beat the crap out of her given the chance and the brave Russian somehow is up at nine, wobbles back though and can barely hold back the tears... ref doesn't wave it off much to everyone's surprise and one must question this decision as Lisicki pounds the Russian immediately to the ropes with more jabs on the body, clips the jaw again and just whacks the aching and nearly finished Kirilenko all the way to the bell, cracks a right hook right at the death which tumbles the Russian onto the canvas again but ref refuses to start another count and indicates it happened after the bell went off, Maria just sits there on her backside with the eyes closed and she's been really pounded into a mess during the last few minutes with Sabine threatening to literally destroy her.

Round 8:
Maria doesn't quit on her stool and one must wish if she did so seeing how Sabine's hooks add more lumps onto her otherwise swollen face, just wrecking her spirit to the extreme and perhaps Lisicki wants to challenge for the beatdown of the WTA awards as she finally ends Kirilenko's nightmare by slamming a left hook on the nose and a swift right follow up on the jaw that puts the brave Russian to the orbit... MARIA CRASHES FACE FIRST at Sabine's feet and doesn't respond to anything that goes around her for the next couple of minutes... Heavy KO8 Sabine Lisicki!!!

AFTER: The winner's delight is fully understandable even though Sabine profited from the ref's decision to continue the one-sided beating of Maria Kirilenko late in the seventh round. But that was a proper beatdown that happened in the second part of the fight as Sabine wanted the victory more and exposed the Russian's fitness issues by punching her to the body far too often before Maria just couldn't keep up with the frantic pace and was left an easy prey for the fellow blonde.

Sabine finally unloads all the punching power and makes up for the Sharapova and Wozniacki defeats: "I always knew I could punch these girls out and I'm so glad I was able to really hammer Maria Kirilenko into a smoking wreck. Just look at her! She's all done here! I ruined her body and ruined her spirit as well! I don't think she'll be asking me for a rematch anytime soon!"

Final result: Sabine Lisicki def. Maria Kirilenko KO8.