May 26, 2009
Ana Ivanovic Survives Round 1
Title holder Ana Ivanovic had a hard game to begin her journey in Roland Garros with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Italian Sara Errani to reach the second round. Ana Ivanovic had to fight a long battle lasting two hours and two minutes to conquer the world no. 44. Even though Ivanovic won the match bust she showed signs of the recent knee injury which kept her out of the Madrid Open. She played the match with her right knee taped. In the second round she will meet either Camille Pin or Tamarine Tamasugarn.
Ivanovic has not won many matches on the clay court in the current year with just two wins before the start of the French Open. One could easily make out her lack of clay court exposure in the current year when she gave away ten break point in the first set and it got stretched into a tiebreaker. She eventfully won the exhausting set after 72 minutes.
In the second set Ivanovic avoided four break points in the first service game and later consolidated her position by leading the set at 5-1. Errani faough back hard and to her service game and broke Ivanovic’s service game to but the Surb finally won the match taking the set 6-3.
Post the match a tired Ana Ivanovic told the reporters
“I expected a tough match. I knew I would have to work hard for my points today, and I’m very happy I did that, I kept my composure even when I was making a few mistakes.”
“I think last year’s US Open was a great experience for me, I played when I wasn’t fit enough to play and I kept thinking about my injury through the matches,”.
“It was not going well. Before my matches, before I stepped on court, I was thinking, am I fit enough to play? And I felt fit enough, so I just put it out of my mind, and I don’t want to think about it.”
“This morning when I was warming up they were playing highlights on the big screen. It’s always good to see, and you always get a little bit excited watching that,” she said.
She also added that playing on the clay court reminded her of the last year when she had an excellent French Open.
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Filed Under: Tennis
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