Search:
StoriesVideos
Home Tennis 

Story


Ivanovic Sneaks Into Second Round In New York

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

(Sports Network) - World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic survived her first-round match Tuesday at the U.S. Open.

The Serbian Ivanovic, who's battled a thumb injury in recent weeks, snuck past Russian Vera Dushevina 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 on a beautiful sunny day at this Big Apple fortnight.

Ivanovic appeared to be cruising on Day 2, up a set and leading 4-2 in the second, but some sloppy play allowed her Russian counterpart to sneak into the match.

Dushevina fought back to claim the second set and was leading 3-2 in the third before Ivanovic righted the ship. The Serbian star went on to capture the third by converting on a third match point after 2 hours, 3 minutes of uneventful tennis.

Ivanovic is the reigning French Open champ and was this year's runner-up at the Australian Open. She's played in three of the last six major finals.

The 20-year-old Ivanovic was joined in the second round by surging Russian star Dinara Safina, who handled American teenager Kristie Ahn 6-3, 6-4 on the grounds at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The sixth-seeded Safina was the French Open runner-up to Ivanovic and the runner-up at the Olympic tennis tournament two weeks ago.

Safina is the younger sister of the 2000 men's U.S. Open champion Marat Safin.

Ninth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland cruised with a 6-4, 6-2 pasting of Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, while an upset came when former Top-20 German Anna-Lena Groenefeld grounded 11th-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-2. The former Top-10 Hantuchova has now dropped eight of her last 12 matches and hasn't won back-to-back matches since March.

In other action involving Top-16 seeds, No. 13 Hungarian Agnes Szavay topped American Gail Brodsky 7-5, 6-3 and No. 16 Italian Flavia Pennetta overcame Swiss Stefanie Vogele 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 at the fourth and final major of the year.

Additional seeded victors were No. 20 Czech Nicole Vaidisova and No. 30 Japanese Ai Sugiyama, while Swiss Timea Bacsinszky upended 31st-seeded Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-1.

Other first-round winners were Frenchwoman Julie Coin, Taipei's Su-Wei Hsieh, Chinese Shuai Peng, Italians Roberta Vinci and Tathiana Garbin, Belarusian Olga Govortsova and Colombian Mariana Duque Marino.

Sports E-News

Sign up to receive daily sports headlines.
 


Restless Leg Syndrome can be calmed. Learn symptoms, treatments and management for RLS here. Full Story ››

Think you can’t own a little slice of personal heaven for less than $100,000? Think again. Check out these less well known spots where you can relax and get away from it all without breaking the bank. Full Story ››

Are your aging parents becoming a threat to themselves and others on the road? Find out if it's time to take away the keys. Full Story ››

House, home, garage
Been reading stories about the increase in home foreclosures? In the market to invest? Search a national database of homes on the block. Full Story ››


Don’t be left out. Make the switch to Digital TV.

Market Place

Sponsor Links