The Ups and Downs of a Young American WIMBLEDON, England - Sloane Stephens of the United States stepped to the service line with her back against the wall, trailing by 5-2 in the final set on Thursday at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Her opponent, Sabine Lisicki of Germany, had turned back Stephens's most determined shots and pulled to match point when Stephens unwisely attempted a drop shot. A moment later, it was over. Stephens's backhand sailed wide. Lisicki, seeded 15th and a semifinalist here a year ago, won, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-2. One of the most promising young Americans, the 19-year-old Stephens nearly won the first set, but nerves seemed to take their toll near the end of it. At 4-5, she blasted two forehands long, one of which nearly cleared the net. She then double-faulted to face a set point. It was only Lisicki's complicity that enabled Stephens to recover. Lisicki thumped two forehands long to put Stephens back on serve. Stephens jammed a sizzling forehand up the line to claim the game and pull even at 5-5. In the tiebreak, Lisicki fell dangerously far behind at 5-2, but won the next five points to take the set and blunt what could have been a surge by Stephens, who is ranked 59th in the world. "The match is never over until the last point," Lisicki told reporters. I knew I made some easy mistakes to go down, 2-5, I had my chances. The conditions were hard, it was very windy, but I adjusted well, I think, and just calmed down and went for my shots and made them. If there is a final image that sticks with a spectator, it is Stephens bending over and jamming her racket against the turf when she lost that first set, bending in dismay, but not despair, apparently, because she turned the match around within the next 31 minutes. "You just never give up, even if I did lose the first set," Stephens said, "I'm not going to just tank the second set, I just regroup and start playing again." Yet it was her resurgence to win the second set so easily at 6-1 that made her final set meltdown so puzzling.