Ivanovic Upset in Aussie Opener
After a dominant first set, fifth-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic saw her Australian Open run come to an end at the hands of Lucie Hradecka. The Czech qualifier stormed back from a one set deficit to upset Ivanovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 and move on in Melbourne.After a dominant first set, fifth-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic saw her Australian Open run come to an end at the hands of Lucie Hradecka. The Czech qualifier stormed back from a one set deficit to upset Ivanovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 and move on in Melbourne.
Ivanovic cruised through the first set in 21 minutes. She looked like the player that had led the WTA in match wins in 2014 using excellent return play to break Hradecka three times and ripped nine winners.
Things quickly changed in the second set, however, as Ivanovic’s shaky serve started to expose her. She quickly fell behind 3-0 in the second set and the wheels began to fall off from there. Ivanovic double-faulted four times in that second set which allowed for two easy break points from Hradecka.
The third set was all Hradecka. She hit 14 winners to just seven unforced errors and was again the beneficiary of Ivanovic mistakes. The Serbian committed three more double faults in the final frame and won only half of the points on her serve. In addition, Hradecka was much more aggressive, winning all nine of the points at the net as she steamrolled Ivanovic in the final two sets.
“I was so nervous in the beginning. My hand was shaky,” said Hradecka. “But I played one time against Ana before, at Wimbledon five years ago, and I had two match points, so my goal was if I had match point this time to finish it.
And I’m so happy I did it this time.”
Ivanovic’s emotions were a bit different.
“It’s really disappointing,” she said. “You know, it’s probably the worst thing [that] could happen.”
Hradecka moves on to the second round and will play Slovakia’s Polona Hercog, who beat China’s Qiang Wang 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Ivanovic was not the only top seed to fall in Melbourne on the tournament’s opening day. Angelique Kerber, the ninth-seeded German, was ousted by Irina-Camelia Begu. The Romanian won a number of points on Kerber’s serve in the final set and picked up two break points to pull away for the 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 victory.
Begu will play the Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova who took down Russia’s Elena Vesnina 6-2, 7-5 in the opening round on Monday.
Other seeded players such as 16th seeded Lucie Safarova and 17th seeded Carla Suarez-Navarro were sent home early from Melbourne.
Safarova fell to Kazakhstan’s Yaraslava Shvedova 4-6, 6-2, 6-8 on Show Court 2. Shvedova now moves on and will play Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig, who routed hometown Australian Arina Rodionova 6-0, 6-3 to push through.
Suarez-Navarro fell to Carina Witthoeft in straight sets. The 104th ranked German disposed of the Spaniard 6-3, 6-1 to set up a matchup with American Christina McHale. The New Jersey native fought off a stomach issue to outlast France’s Stephanie Foretz 6-4, 1-6, 12-10 to advance into the second-round.
France’s Kristina Mladenovic came back from a set down to outlast 28th seeded German Sabine Lisicki 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Mladenovic was able to fight off the powerful Lisicki serve, notching eight break points to push past the seeded German. She will take on American Bethanie Mattek-Sands who beat China’s Ying-Ying Duan 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
The 27th seed was also eliminated from Melbourne on Monday as France’s Caroline Garcia defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2. Garcia moves on to play Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele.
Click here for all the results from Day 1 at the Australian Open.
