The Hindu : Sport : Ana Ivanovic gets past Sam Stosur

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Ana Ivanovic gets past Sam Stosur

Nirmal Shekar

Sania-Chuang pair suffers second-round loss; Lisicki shocks Kuznetzova

American qualifier Melanie Oudin stuns Jelena Jankovic
Kuznetsova was seeded fifth

— PHOTO: AP

FINE DISPLAY: Ana Ivanovic’s unrelenting aggression and tactical maturity saw her sweep past the dangerous Samantha Stosur.

London: Glamour girls in tennis always tend to have growing pains — it is a tag that is never easy to live with. When celebrity precedes achievement, it may become difficult to focus on career goals.

Ana Ivanovic, the owner of the most visited website of any sportswoman — www.anaivanovic.com — was already a superstar before she became a Grand Slam champion at the French Open last year and ascended to the No. 1 spot. But that turned out to be a brief flirtation with greatness as the handle-with-care combination of celebrity and success turned out to be too hot to deal with.

Form slump

A surprising early exit from Wimbledon 2008 as the top seed triggered a disastrous form slump. She won just one tournament, at Linz, after taking the French title and this year hasn’t been great either as her ranking slipped out of the top 10.

But there are strong indications now that Ivanovic is ready for the steep climb uphill. This is reflected in the 123rd Wimbledon championships in both her attitude and the quality of tennis she’s played on her way to the fourth round.

Tactical maturity

On Saturday, Ivanovic, seeded 13, played with unrelenting aggression and tremendous tactical maturity to beat the dangerous, in-form Australian, Samantha Stosur, 7-5, 6-2 in the third round.

Serving the best she has in a long time, covering the court as if on wheels and employing her powerful forehand for the kill with great confidence, Ivanovic was very, very impressive against Stosur, a semifinalist at the French Open.

But the popular Serb would certainly need to be playing at 100 per cent if she has to have a chance of getting past the next round where one Miss Venus Williams will be standing across the net from her.

You might have thought Venus had tickets for an early evening play at the West End from the way in which she dealt with Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.

The defending champion won eight games in a row before the Spaniard got on the scoreboard to the biggest applause of the match. Venus finally won 6-0, 6-4.

Venus had lost to Suarez Navarro in the second round of the Australian Open, but on grass at Wimbledon there was never any doubt that the champion would dispose of the Spaniard in quick time.

“I am really excited. She (Venus) plays really well here. The last two years she is the champion. Two years ago I played her in the semifinal here, so I can take a lot from that match,” said Ivanovic.

“It is going to be a huge challenge. But feel lucky to have the opportunity to play against her,” said Ivanovic.

Reaping the rewards

The Serb had practised hard over the last few weeks and the rewards have come in the championship that matters more than any other to her.

She served with such authority today that Ivanovic faced only one breakpoint in the entire match. That she did lose serve on that point hardly mattered on a day when she converted four of eight breakpoints on Stosur’s serve.

Ivanovic hit six aces and won 79 per cent of her first serve points, and many of her 11 forehand winners came on crucial points.

“I think my tactics and my game-plan prevailed over my emotions,” said Ivanovic. “That is something I am really happy about.

Ivanovic’s countrywoman, Jelena Jankovic, did nothing to be happy about as she went down 7-6(8), 5-7, 2-6 to the American qualifier Melanie Oudin who is ranked 124.

Easy win

In the women’s doubles event, Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Monica Niculescu of Romania had a surprisingly easy time against the 15th seed pair of Sania Mirza and Chia-Jung Chuang, winning the second round contest 6-2, 6-3.

Later in the afternoon, Sabine Lisicki of Germany, world ranked 41, ousted the French Open champion and fifth seed, Svetlana Kuznetzova of Russia 6-2, 7-5.

The Russian fought back late in the second set, saving a few matchpoints but the German hung in there and pulled it off in the end.

THE RESULTS

Men: Third round: 8-Gilles Simon (Fra) bt 31-Victor Hanescu (Rom) 6-2, 7-5, 6-2; 6-Andy Roddick (USA) bt 26-Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 7-6(2), 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3; 19-Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) bt Jesse Levine (USA) 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.

29-Igor Andreev (Rus) bt Andreas Seppi (Ita) 6-1, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(5); 20-Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt 12-Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2; 23-Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt 16-David Ferrer (Esp) 7-5, 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4; 24-Tommy Haas (Ger) bt 11-Marin Cilic (Cro) 7-5, 7-5, 1-6, 6-7(3), 10-8; Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt Philipp Petzschner (Ger) 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-3.

Women: Third round: 1-Dinara Safina (Rus) bt Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) 7-5, 6-1; 11-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) bt 19-Li Na (Chn) 6-4, 7-5; Sabine Lisicki (Ger) bt 5-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) 6-2, 7-5.

13-Ana Ivanovic (Srb) bt 18-Samantha Stosur (Aus) 7-5, 6-2; 9-Caroline Wozniacki (Den) bt 20-Anabel Medina Garrigues (Esp) 6-2, 6-2; 3- Venus Williams (USA) bt Carla Suarez (Esp) 6-0, 6-4; Melanie Oudin (USA) bt 6-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) 6-7(8), 7-5, 6-2; 17-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt 15- Flavia Pennetta (Ita) 7-5, 6-3.

Doubles: Second round: Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus) & Monica Niculescu (Rou) bt 15-Chia-Jung Chuang (Tpe) & Sania Mirza (Ind) 6-2, 6-3.

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