Tennis Prose




Jan/14

19

Aussie Ana KO’s Serena in Melbourne

anai

by Louise Belcourt

Ana Ivanovic stunned world number 1 Serena Williams with a 4-6 6-3 6-3 win in the fourth round of the Australian Open.

A hot favorite for the tournament, Williams produced a less than impressive display to end her 25 match winning streak and bid for the first grand slam of the year. In just under 2 hours the world number 14 had produced a consistent, yet aggressive display of tennis that saw the biggest shake-up of the women’s draw.

Williams and Ivanovic entered the Australian Open in good form both coming off wins in their first tournament of the year. Williams beating world number 2 Victoria Azarenka in Brisbane and Ivanovic defeating Serena’s older sister Venus in Auckland.

But it was the consistency, return of serve and deep penetrating ground-strokes by Ivanovic that culminated in uncharacteristic unforced errors and sluggish (by her standards) court movement by Williams. Ivanovic pounced on the normally impenetrable Williams serve to earn 14 break points, and produce 8 winning returns.

Serena admitted that she didn’t play well.
“I made a tremendous amount of errors, shots that I haven’t missed since the 80’s,” the 32 year old said.
Taking nothing away from her opponent, Williams confirmed that she went into the match with a back injury. “Obviously I wasn’t hitting the way I normally hit and wasn’t moving the way I normally would move and making a lot of errors that I normally would not make.”
Despite Williams back injury, a normally shaky Ivanovic was able to control both her nerves and the match perfectly. “Well, I actually believed. I didn’t think much about the occasion and who I was playing, because it can get overwhelming.”

“Even though I lost that first set in a manner that I was a little bit disappointed at, I kept believing and I kept fighting and looking for my moments.”

The odds were very much in favor of her higher ranked opponent, with Williams never having dropped a set to the Serbian in 4 matches. Although this time Ivanovic played with focus, purpose and a tactic to play to Williams’s back-hand that proved the right strategy that saw 17 unforced errors on that side.

Finally knocking off the 17 time grand slam winner Ivanovic stated she would hate to see Williams leave the tour anytime soon. “We want her, because it pushes us, you know too, and it creates good challenges for us to challenge and to see how far we can go.”

Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion, will take on the new kid on the block in 19 year old Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in the quarter finals. Bouchard, the world number 31, is someone to look out for, but I believe the experience and new found composure from the Serbian former world number 1 will see her come through this match.

The other quarter final will be between world number 4 Li Na and world number 29 Flavia Pennetta. Pennetta defeated world number 9 Angelique Kerber 6-1 4-6 7-5. In a much shorter match, Li Na annihilated world number 22 Ekaterina Makarova 6-2 6-0. I believe Li Na will have too much power and precision and experience for Pennetta in their quarter final matchup.

The other 4 quarter finalists will be determined on Monday. I expect Maria Sharapova (#3) to be too strong for Dominika Cibulkova (#20). Sloane Stephens (#13) and Victoria Azarenka (#2) to have a very close battle, with a possible upset by Stephens. Agnieszka Radwanska (#5) to just get over the line against Garbine Muguruza (#38). And Jelena Jankovic (#8) to be too strong for Simona Halep (#11).

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4 comments

  • Andrew Miller · January 19, 2014 at 11:55 pm

    I think Louise is right on Ivanovic in the Bouchard match-up. I don’t think Bouchard is accustomed to seeing the blazing returns of Ivanovic. It will be a shock to the system if Ivanovic is nailing the returns again.

    Probably right on Li Na also. I like Pennetta a lot but it’s true, Li is just so solid sometimes. Watching her I feel like Clijsters never left the tour.

    On the other ladies seems a lot of tables were turned. I was a bit upset on the Sloane Stephens match-up – Azarenka was playing well within the court and I don’t think this was expected.

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 20, 2014 at 7:01 am

    Bouchard is very dangerous she is on Cloud 9 with the Genie Army’s vocal support, that group of fanatics is lifting Bouchard to a new level. Imagine being a player and having that kind of massive support, it’s beyond amazing it’s magical. It is inspiring Bouchard big time, she is going to be very dangerous for AI. Not only is it inspiring, I think it’s distracting and disturbing to the opponent, they have to be thinking: “What a lucky girl to have these guys supporting and singing to her like this, I wish I had an Army like Genie does.” Genie already holds a win over AI so she can do it again. I hope AI’s fans come out loud and animated just like Genie’s AI is gonna need it.

  • Hartt · January 20, 2014 at 10:06 am

    Am a big fan of Bouchard – not only is she talented but she shows great composure no matter what the circumstances. Her winning match against Ivanovic at Wimbledon, which was moved to Centre Court at the last minute, is a good example of that. However, Ivanovic is showing great form right now and think she is the likely winner against Bouchard. Just hoping for a close, entertaining match.

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 20, 2014 at 11:09 am

    Good point Andrew, she has all the qualities of a champion. I saw her ESPN studio interview and she shines like a champion and says all the right things.

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