The Hindu : Sport : Ivanovic shines bright to eclipse Venus the results

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Ivanovic shines bright to eclipse Venus the results

Nirmal Shekar

Impressive Djokovic to take on Federer; Bhupathi-Knowles enter semifinals

Melbourne: You always suspected that there was a Crown Prince hiding behind Novak Djokovic’s court jester mask.

At the business end of the Australian Open here this week, with all but blue-blood royalty ejected from the stage, Djokovic must be pleased rather than concerned that the mask is slipping.

On Wednesday, the 20-year old with a great gift for impersonations became the third Belgrade native — Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic are the others — to book a place in the semifinals of this championship and the Serbian community in this beautiful city has not had anything quite like this celebrate in a long, long time.

So, the crowd-pleasing vaudeville acts can wait; anyway, his fans have enough and more on YouTube to keep themselves amused. Now, serious business awaits Djokovic following his 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 quarterfinal victory over the Spaniard David Ferrer.

Laboured win

For, later in the evening, Roger Federer, in the poorest form your correspondent has seen him in during the second week of a Grand Slam event in over four years, laboured to a 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-4 victory over the American James Blake.

If Djokovic had watched that match, the Serb would fancy his chances in the semifinals on Friday night. He would be hoping too that he doesn’t collapse in a heap of nerves against the great man as he did in the U.S. Open final last year.

Even against lesser men, Djokovic still has trouble closing out matches, especially if the opponents happen to be ranked near the top.

Against Ferrer, after sprinting to a two-sets-to-love lead and then finding an early break in the third, Djokovic managed to find roadblocks on his path where none existed in the first place.

His double handed backhands, deep, powerful and accurate until then, chose to check out the alluring blue spaces beyond the dimensions of the court and his first serve too suddenly found the net an attractive resting place.

Four matchpoints came and went and Ferrer held to 4-5 after seven deuce calls. Yet, when his turn came to serve out the match, Djokovic fell short. Fortunately for him, the Spaniard handed back the break on a platter and the Serb wrapped up things in the next game on serve.

“It’s really difficult sometimes to control your emotions. It was a lot of pressure,” said Djokovic. “Certain moments, you know, something flips.”

A step forward

Djokovic’s countrywoman Ivanovic should know all about pressure too. When you go out to play someone you have never beaten before — against whom you have failed to win a single set in four meetings spread over three years — and that person happens to be Venus Williams, a four-time Wimbledon champion, the psychological baggage can be borderline self-destructive.

But Ivanovic did not climb from No. 14 to No. 4 last year allowing herself to be weighed down by the past. This is a young woman on the move, hungry to prove that she is much more than a mere glamour doll with a burgeoning fan base.

If she can continue to play with the confidence and skills that she displayed to beat Venus 7-6(3), 6-4, on Wednesday, such hopes might turn out to be much more than an empty dream.

In a nervous start to the match, Ivanovic and Venus traded breaks three times in the first set before some sort of order was restored in the service games. But even in that phase it was obvious that the American had a job on her hands as Ivanovic sought out the corners with her heavy-duty forehand.

Uncharacteristic errors

In the tie-break, the Serb edged ahead 4-2 with a forehand winner but, surprisingly, it was a rather shaky Venus who surrendered the set with two uncharacteristic errors on high volleys. Anyway, this was a match where the most impressive numbers were to be found in the unforced errors column of the stats sheet: Venus 35, Ivanovic 34.

The second set was almost as close; both Ivanovic and Venus served better than in the first but it was the younger woman who controlled the bigger points better. Serving for the match in the 10 th game, with Venus desperately seeking an escape route, the Serb staved off two breakpoints to close out the match.

Ivanovic, who writes a popular column for a Melbourne newspaper and is also an enthusiastic and popular blogger, will play Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia in the semifinals.

Hantuchova, who seems to have been around forever but is still only 24, made her first Grand Slam semifinal in her 29th appearance in a major event with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

Bhambri in last eight

In the boys’ singles event, India’s Yuki Bhambri, seeded eight, raced into the quarterfinals with an impressive 6-1, 6-3 victory over Tadayuki Longhi of Japan.

Bhambri got off the blocks in style, racing to a 5-0 lead before allowing his Japanese opponent a solitary game in the first set. Although the second set was more of a contest, it was Bhambri who controlled the big points.

Bhambri will play the third seeded Briton, Daniel Evans, in the quarterfinals.

Agency adds:

Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles stunned top-seeded pair of Bob and Mike Bryan 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(5) to enter the men’s doubles semifinals.

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