Australian Open - Ivanovic's Narrow Escape

Facing a tough time as she was broken once in every set, Ivanovic recovered soon enough and managed to keep off 5 break points. It must have been a bitter-sweet memory for the young Serb at Melbourne as she had reached the final of the Australian Open last year only to lose to Maria Sharapova of Russia who is not participating this year due to a shoulder injury. This might well be the reason for her initially distracted game against the No. 107 German tennis player who is only a novice, this being her 4th major.

After her loss, Ivanovic did not give up and went on to win the French Open which raised her to the No. 1 ranking in the middle of the year. Unfortunately, the 21 years old tennis star fell victim to injuries which put a strain on her superb form. As a result, she had to bow out of the 2008 Wimbledon tournament in the 3rd round and she could also not make it beyond the 2nd round in the U.S. Open that same year.

Ivanovic and Goerges put up a combined total of 66 unforced errors vis-a-vis just 34 winners. They also had problems with their footing and were called for it many times. The Serb was glad she had managed to win.

This was the first time Ivanovic was playing against her Russian counterpart. She praised her game saying “She was hitting the ball very well”. She said that it took her some time before she could get into the rhythm of the game and she didn't expect herself to start playing perfectly from the very beginning of the match. All she could do was “give time to work yourself into the tournament”.

Other tennis results that day included an easy win by Ivanovic's fellow Serbian player, Jelena Jankovic, against Yvonne Meusburger. The top-seed, who was defeated by Serena Williams in the U.S. Open final and who has yet to claim some major title, scored 27 winners against her rival who was only able to score 4. The final result showed 6-1, 6-3 win in favor of Jankovic.

The Olympic silver medalist, 3rd seed Dinara Safina, had an easy time defeating Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3, 6-4.
The Russian player, seventh seed Vera Zvonareva recorded a 7-7 (2), 6-0 win against Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia. Shahar Peer from Israel lost to Denmark's Caroline Woziniacki 6-3, 6-2. Wozianacki is ranked No. 11 in women's tennis. Other tennis players that have advanced into the 2nd round of the Australian Open are French player Alize Cornet (No. 15), Marion Bartoli, who is also French and was the finalist in the Wimbledon tournament held in 2007, and Ai Sugiyami of Japan (No. 26).

By: Peri Witny

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Peri Witny is an author of Sports Articles. To catch live tennis action you could use a website that deals in live tennis scores from sporting events around the world like ScoresPro.