Ivanovic Shocks Serena Down Under
Ana Ivanovic stunned Serena Williams in the Round of 16 at the Australian Open this weekend, defeating the top-seeded Serena 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Coming into the match, Ivanovic had never won a set against Serena in their four previous head-to-head matches.
"I actually believed," Ivanovic said. "I had some confidence coming into today's match. I really did certain things extremely well, and I kept her under pressure throughout the whole match, I felt. I just think I stayed in the moment physically. I didn't think much about the occasion and who I was playing, because it can get overwhelming. I just stuck with my things and it really paid off."
Serena was seeking her 18th Grand Slam title, which would have tied her with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for second-most in the Open Era.
Ivanovic’s win was the most talked-about match of Australian Open, but the result tweeted out on the official Australian Open Twitter account @australianopen was tweeted a record 2,427 times, an increase of 400 tweets. The previous record–1,906 retweets–followed Novak Djokovic's near six hour win over Rafael Nadal in the men’s singles final in 2012.
"I'm always disappointed when I lose, but it's always a good thing,” said Serena. “I plan on getting better. It's almost good that I lost today because now I know what to work on when I get on the practice court. When I fell at Wimbledon, I was able to get myself back up. Sometimes it's good when I lose because it takes my head out of the clouds. Not that they are ever there really, so to speak. I just work as if I'm ranked 1000 in the world."
Ivanovic faces Eugenie Bouchard in the quarterfinals.
