F444C3D4-51BE-49A6-88BA-780D115E208A
By Adrianna Outlaw
© Tony Chang/Chang Photography
(August 9, 2010) Ana Ivanovic has felt the persistent pain of stinging weekly losses reducing her to tears during post match interviews, conceded her confidence has crumbled during an abysmal stretch in which she hasn't won successive matches since May, endured a humbling rejection of her wild card request from the Rogers Cup and watched her ranking free fall to No. 61.
The former World No. 1 bottomed out in San Diego with her second opening-round exit in her last three tournaments, but tonight in Cincinnati Ivanovic bounced back in a big way.
Ivanovic broke serve five times to dispatch ninth-seeded Victoria Azarenka, 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-2 to advance to the second round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati.
"I just knew that if I managed to return well, her serve would eventually break down, and that's what happened today," Ivanovic said. "This victory means a lot."
The 22-year-old Belgrade baseliner defeated Azarenka for the second time this season. Ivanovic scored a 6-4, 6-4 win over the big-hitting Belarusian on the red clay of Rome in May. That victory sparked a run that t saw Ivanovic take down sixth-ranked Elena Dementieva and 18th-ranked Nadia Petrova before losing to eventual-champion Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the semifinals. Since Rome, Ivanovic had won just three of her last nine matches until fighting back past Azarenka.
"She was serving so well in the first set but I knew I just had to hang in there and compete, and eventually things would turn around. I managed to improve my return of serve and I feel like my defense was also good," Ivanovic said. "There were a lot of changes of momentum in this match. It definitely felt like two different matches. For the first half I just had to keep fighting and keeping believe, then towards the end I felt I was on top."
Azarenka beat Samantha Stosur and Maria Sharapova in succession to capture the Bank of the West Classic championship in Stanford two weeks ago, but struggled to locate her serve in dumping 12 double faults and winning just six of 29 points played on her second serve as Ivanovic often pounced from a predatory return position from inside the baseline.
"I was playing pretty well in the first set and serving well. Then I don't know, I just lost the rhythm of the serve," Azarenka said. "Maybe because of the darkness change or something. I just completely lost my timing and I couldn't put it in."
Next up for Ivanovic is a second-round meeting with Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova. Shevedova won their only previous meeting in Miami in 2007.
"I’ve been working very hard and playing so well in practice, and it’s a great feeling to be able to finally take some of that into a match," Ivanovic said. "I’m very happy with this victory."
Despite littering the court with 15 double faults, former World No. 1 Dinara Safina scored her second win in her last eight matches, a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Roberta Vinci, to set up a second-round clash with reigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters. A year ago, the then top-ranked Safina defeated Clijsters, who was playing the first tournament of her comeback, in the Cincinnati quarterfinals. A year later, Clijsters comes into the tournament as the fourth seed, while Safina, who was sidelined for three months with a back injury and has produced some abysmal results since her return, has seen her ranking fall to No. 35.
The seventh-ranked Clijsters holds a 6-2 career edge over Safina in what has been a schizophrenic match-up: Clijsters did not drop a set in winning their first six meetings played between 2004 and 2006 and Safina has not surrendered a set in their last two matches.
Aravane Rezai, who lost to 28th-ranked Alisa Kleybanova in the opening round of last week's Mercury Insurance Open, dropped serve twice in the final set in falling to Serbian qualifier Bojana Jovanovski, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open.
The 14th-seeded Rezai entered the event with a 29-point lead in the rankings over compatriot Marion Bartoli. But Rezai's loss, combined with Bartoli's 6-4, 6-0 thrashing of Anabel Medina Garrigues means Bartoli will surpass Rezai when the new WTA Tour rankings are released on Monday.
Last month, Rezai blasted her way to the Bastad title on red clay. Rezai defeated Argentina's Gisela Dulko for the first time, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, to win the Swedish Open title in Bastad.
It was the second title of the year for the hard-hitting French woman, who beat a trio of former World No. 1 players — Justine Henin, Jankovic and Venus Williams — to win the Madrid title in May.
World No. 98 Jovanovski will face the towering Akgul Amanmuradova with the winner potentially playing top-seeded Jelena Jankovic, Jovanovski's teammate on the Serbian Fed Cup squad.
In a first-round match of qualifiers, Amanmuradova crushed 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm, 6-1, 6-1. Date Krumm beat Safina in Stanford last month.
Vera Dushevina topped Anastasia Rodionova 6-2, 7-6 (7) in another match of qualifiers to set up a second-round meeting with Jankovic. Nuria Llagostera Vives rallied for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Wimbledon winner Vania King. Sara Errani rolled over Jamie Hampton, 6-4, 6-2.