Ivanovic and Bouchard Bounced at Aegon Championships
Defending champion Ana Ivanovic was bounced from the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, falling to Michelle Larcher de Brito in the second round on Wednesday. The Portugal native beat Ivanovic 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(6) to move on.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling—it was so nerve-racking towards the end of the tie-break,” said Larcher de Brito. “I felt a lot better in my game after qualies and beating a couple of good players. There’s always pressure to come back as defending champion and maybe she felt that a little bit today. I just went in there with nothing to lose and kept going for my shots.”
Ivanovic had an opportunity to close things out but was undone by her serve as she was unable to serve out the match in the third set. Even the tie-break was a back and forth affair with each player trading breaks, but it was Larcher de Brito who came out on top.
She will take on Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova in the third-round.
Eugenie Bouchard’s 2015 struggles continued on Wednesday as the fifth-seed was downed by Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 4-6, 6-0. The Canadian has now lost nine of her last 10 matches.
Mladenovic will meet Barbora Strycova next.
Third-seed Carla Suarez-Navarro, fourth-seed Angelique Kerber, eighth-seed Sabine Lisicki all won their respective matches on Wednesday to advance.
Twelfth-seed and former world number one Victoria Azarenka withdrew from the tournament before her match against Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas with a foot injury.
“It’s very disappointing for me to make this decision, but I tried to practice, and it just doesn’t feel 100 percent,” Azarenka said. “I don’t think it is the right time for me to take a risk right now, especially right before Wimbledon, and I need to make sure I have the best preparation possible.”
