Ivanovic Beats Azarenka In Matchup of Former World Number Ones
In a matchup of former world number ones, Ana Ivanovic defeated Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday.
In her first match play since an early exit at the US Open, the Serbian took advantage of nine-double faults by Azarenka to notch her first victory over the Belarus native since 2010.
“It was a very tough second round match. She’d had one match already, so I really tried to take my time and get into the match, working hard for each point,” said Ivanovic, who had received a bye into the second round. “It was a good quality match and I played some good tennis in the important moments—I’m just very happy to be through, because it was a tough draw.”
Ivanovic now moves on to a quarterfinal matchup with seventh-seeded Lucie Safarova, who edged out Swiss wild card and rising star Belinda Bencic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Safarova has won the last five meetings with Ivanovic including a victory at this year’s French Open.
The tournament’s top-seed Angelique Kerber rolled past Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4, setting up a quarterfinal match with sixth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova.
“I think I like the courts here, because I always play well here,” said Kerber. “They are maybe a little bit different, but the weather also makes a difference.”
The Slovakian Cibulkova, who lost to 15-year old CiCi Bellis at the US Open, outlasted American Coco Vandeweghe 7-6(5), 7-5 in their second-rout bout Wednesday.
On the bottom half of the draw, second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki will attempt to reach the quarterfinals when she takes on Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova Thursday. Former world number one Jelena Jankovic also seeks entry into the quarterfinals on Thursday, and will take on Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.
