Ivanovic Beats Vaidisova at Abierto Monterrey Afirme

Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic drew a matchup with a familiar opponent in the first-round of the Abierto Monterrey Afirme on Tuesday. The Serb took on qualifier and old rival Nicole Vaidisova, beating the Czech 6-1, 7-6(4) to advance to the second-round.

Because of rain-postponed matches on Monday, former world number seven and two-time Grand Slam semifinalist Vaidisova had to go through the qualifying round on Tuesday morning before playing the main draw first-round at night.

It set up a rematch of the 2007 Wimbledon quarterfinals when both players met as rising stars, and saw their careers trend in different directions in the years to come. Ivanovic came back from a set down and saved three match points in that match, prevailing 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, before losing to Venus Williams in the semifinals.

Ivanovic took advantage of a tired and rusty Vaidisova, racing out to a 6-1, 3-0 lead. The Czech fought back, though, and actually took a 5-4 lead in the frame. It would go to a tiebreak, where Ivanovic rattled off four points in a row down 3-4 to win in straight sets.

“When I saw I was going to play against her I knew it would be a tough match because she’s a great player,” said Ivanovic. “She didn’t play for awhile, and now she wants to play again, and in the second set she was playing really well and making some really good shots out there. I’m happy I won the tiebreak because you never know what will happen in a third set.”

The sixth-ranked player in the world moves into the second round and will take on France’s Pauline Parmentier, who fought back from a set down to oust Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Second-seeded Sara Errani of Italy was able to advance, beating American Lauren Davis handily 6-0, 6-3. Davis was one of four American players to be ousted from the Monterrey first round on Tuesday.

Sixth-seeded Allison Riske of the United States fell to Russia’s Vera Zvonareva in straight sets. Zvonareva didn’t allow a single break point and won four of Riske’s service games as she rolled 6-4, 6-0.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands had a one set lead in her opening round contest before Italy’s Francesca Schiavone stormed back for the 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory, and Shelby Rogers was outdone by Ukraine’s Lesya Tsurenko 6-2, 6-0.

Joining top seeds Ivanovic and Errani in the second round were seeds three through five, who all managed to come out victorious on Tuesday. Third-seeded Caroline Garcia of France pushed past Karin Knapp 7-5, 7-6(5) in an incredibly tight contest; fourth-seeded Swiss Timea Bacsinszky needed almost two and a half hours to win 7-6(8), 3-6, 6-4 over Yanina Wickmayer and fifth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia beat Serbia’s Anna Schmiedlova 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.