Ivanovic Wins in Moscow to Set Up Showdown With Stosur
After a first round bye, Ana Ivanovic defeated Klara Zakopalova in the second round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Thursday, 6-3, 6-1. Up next for Ivanovic is the seventh-seeded Sam Stosur, who won nine of 10 games from 3-4 in the first set to beat Alizé Cornet, 6-4, 6-1. Stosur leads Ivanovic in their head-to-head series, 3-2, including 3-0 on hard courts.
There are still some season-ending events going on with the WTA Tour Over the next two weeks, including the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul next week and the Garanti Koza WTA Tournament of Champions in Sofia the week after. Ivanovic has a wild card into Sofia.
"For me the best way would be to play Istanbul, but it’s still a great way to finish the season going to Sofia," Ivanovic said. "I’m really looking forward to being a part of it because I played that tournament in Bali twice and won it twice, so it’s very special memories for me, and I’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about Sofia from the players from last year, so I’m really, really excited about going there."
Also at the Kremlin Cup, it was Daniela Hantuchova who also advanced, defeating qualifier Vesna Dolonc, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, and the fifth-seeded Simona Halep was up 6-2 over Magdalena Rybarikova when Rybarikova was forced to retire due to respiratory illness.
