Ana Ivanovic Survives First-Round Scare

Women's top seed Ana Ivanovic was upset on Day 4 of the 2008 US Open by unheralded Frenchwoman Julie Coin.

In her previous two appearances at the US Open, Russia's Vera Dushevina has tried to make a deep run in the singles draw. But since 2006, she has run into a major roadblock by the name of Ana Ivanovic, who has consistently put an end to the Russian’s hopes.
And for the third year in a row, Ivanovic, now the world No. 1, has done it again, dismissing Dushevina in just over two hours with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory to move on to the second round, where she will face the winner of the match between Casey Dellacqua and Julie Coin.

Before bowing out to the Serbian, Dushevina didn’t go down without a fight. Immediately after the 27-minute first set that saw Ivanovic race to a 5-0 lead before closing it out, Dushevina managed to hold her own in the second set.

Down a break at 4-2, the Russian fought off two break points and held serve thanks to a few uncharacteristic errors from Ivanovic. On the Serbian’s next service game, Dushevina converted on her second break point to even the score at 4-4 and then hold for her first lead of the match at 5-4. A netted forehand from Ivanovic gave Dushevina the second set.

The world No. 57 Russian followed with solid tennis in the third set, pushing Ivanovic with a high-pressure game. She managed to keep up her level of play until a swing volley that sailed long gave Ivanovic the break in the seventh game.

At 5-3 in the third, Ivanovic couldn’t take advantage of a break point, and she dumped a volley into the net, allowing Dushevina to hold with a volley putaway that she placed behind Ivanovic on the backhand side.

Ivanovic nearly let the final game get away from her when a forehand in the net saw her face two break points at 15-40, a situation that she said proved to be a mental test for her. "The last game I had a couple of miss-hits, and, you know, I just tried to stay strong and to play actually for each point and forget what happened. I'm so happy I managed to do that." A rare double fault on match point sent it back to deuce, but back-to-back Dushevina errors sealed the match for the Serbian.

Any signs of Beijing jet lag, lack of practice or the injured thumb that sidelined Ivanovic from playing in the Olympic Games were nowhere to be found in her first-round match. In fact, she said the thumb injury is feeling much better and should not be a concern for her during the Open.

No. 1 seed Ivanovic is coming off a successful 2008 season that saw her win her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, a win that was preceded by a runner-up finish at the Australian Open, as well as her ascent to the No. 1 world rank.

As she aims for her second Grand Slam title, Ivanovic admitted that there are quite a few names in the draw that could prove quite a test for her should she meet them in the next two weeks.

"Safina has definitely done a great job, and she's been playing really well and she has lots of confidence," she said. "I think Dementieva also winning Olympics and coming into this week, she also has some confidence. But, you know, all of the players can be dangerous. Williams sisters, they always play really good here. Yeah, there is a good chance for them."

Courtesy : www.usopen.org