U.S. Open - Women: Ivanovic crashes out

Eurosport - Fri, 29 Aug 11:06:00 2008

World number one Ana Ivanovic was knocked out of the US Open in the second round in a shocking 6-3 4-6 6-3 upset by French qualifier Julie Coin.

TENNIS 2008 US Open Ana Ivanovic - 0

The Serbian suffered the earliest exit by a women's top seed at the US Open since tennis turned professional in 1968.

Lacking match practice after a right thumb injury, the 20-year-old world number one never found her groove against a player ranked 188th in the world, double faulting at key moments and repeatedly netting easy shots or hitting them long.

The tally of 34 unforced errors and eight double faults told it all for Ivanovic, who scraped by the first round in three sets over 57th-ranked Russian Vera Dushevina.

Ivanovic made a shaky start and was broken in the seventh game by Coin, who was on the attack from the start, pushing forward to the net. Ivanovic saved two break points but then double faulted on the third to go down 3-4 in the first set.

The Frenchwoman, who belted five aces in the match, then held serve easily and took her chance at 5-3 up against a nervous-looking Ivanovic to win the first set.

Coin looked poised to break again in the second after a double fault and an unforced error gave her two break points at 1-2, but Ivanovic held her nerve and won the game on a deep shot that crept in by the tiniest margin.

The qualifier kept up the pressure, throwing in a few aces and holding her own at the baseline.

Ivanovic showed some flashes of form to win the second set but Coin refused to be intimidated and registered another break to go 4-2 up in the third, using her big forehand to win 10 points in row during that stretch.

Showing some nerves at the end, Coin double faulted on her first match point at 5-3 to go to deuce. Ivanovic saved another match point before hitting a forehand wide on the third match point of the one hour, 57-minute tilt at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Former world number one Amelie Mauresmo had to pull herself out of a hole to beat Estonian Kaia Kanepi 2-6 6-4 6-0.

The two-times Grand Slam champion, seeded 32nd, trailed world number 43 Kanepi by a set and a break but rallied to set up a third-round clash with compatriot Coin.

After another injury-interrupted year, the Frenchwoman is showing signs of regaining the kind of form that took her to victory in both the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006.

Mauresmo trailed world number 43 Kanepi by a set and a break but rallied to win.

Kanepi, a quarter-finalist at the French Open earlier this year, looked on course for an upset when she eased through the first set and broke in the opening game of the second.

But the 29-year-old, seeded 32nd in New York, broke back immediately and after edging the second set she stormed through the decider to book her place in the third round.

Earlier in the day Russian sixth seed Dinara Safina overcame a couple of concentration lapses to defeat Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-3.

Safina established a 3-0 lead in the opening set and a 3-1 advantage in the second but each time seemed to lose her focus, allowing a scrambling Vinci to break back and threaten a fightback.

However, Safina averted the danger by outclassing Vinci with her powerful serves and searing groundstrokes.

The Russian, who has a 17-1 win-loss record since Wimbledon, will next face Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky.

Fourth seed Serena Williams swept into the third round, wiping out Russian Elena Vesnina 6-1 6-1 to stay on track for a quarter-final showdown with her sister Venus.

Both sisters had an easy ride into the third round of the tournament that they have each won twice -- Venus in 2000 and 2001, Serena in 1999 and 2002.

Serena put on a powerful display against 71st ranked Vesnina, hammering in six aces in the 58 minute match. Vesnina rallied briefly to break Serena's serve and narrow the American's lead to 5-1 in the second set, but the former world number one broke right back to end it.

She will meet Ai Sugiyama in the third round.

Venus Williams eased through by demolishing Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay 6-0 6-3 despite a lacklustre performance sprinkled with unforced errors.

Williams, the US Open winner in 2000 and 2001, did not get much of a workout in the 59-minute match against the 113-ranked De Los Rios, 32, who has never gone beyond the second round at Flushing Meadows.

The 28-year-old seventh seed, who won her fifth Wimbledon singles title in July, made 17 unforced errors and squandered four match points on her serve at 5-3 up before finally claiming victory on the fifth.

In the third round, Williams will meet Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine, the 27th seed who defeated Sabine Lisicki of Germany in three sets.

Polish ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska also breezed through into the third round beating Mariana Duque Marino 6-0 7-6 (3). She will now face Dominika Cibulkokva, after the Slovak beat Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-2 6-2.

Among those to fall on day four included Hungarian 13th Agnes Szavay and Czech Nicole Vaidisova, seeded 20th. Italy's Tathiana Garbin beat Szavay 5-7 6-2 6-3 and Severine Bremond of France secured a 7-5 6-3 win over Vaidisova.

Reuters

Comment 31 - 50 of 50

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  1. safina u play wif a lion heart..never give up when ur chips r down..ur brother borat safin wil b proud of u..

    From nthk8, on Fri 29 Aug 8:39PM

  2. comnt 50...u rite,my mistake..if ana do pose nude it will b no.i best selling mag..even though she lost her 1#ranking

    From nthk8, on Fri 29 Aug 8:32PM

  3. Coin was a perfect, but Ana Ivanovic will be No. 1 in the future. She is not clever like Jelena Jankovic. JJ knows to feel playes, to change her game and to win.

    From Vladan, on Fri 29 Aug 8:06PM

  4. I would like Jelena's Win! She is a hero!

    From Vladan, on Fri 29 Aug 8:03PM

  5. we agree with other contributors we wish for a repeat of the ladies OLYMPIC golden singles final

    WITH A SIMILAR RESULT PLEASE

    From xexxenia, on Fri 29 Aug 7:22PM

  6. we agree with other contributors we wish for a repeat of the ladies OLYMPIC golden singles final

    WITH A SIMILAR RESULT PLEASE

    From xexxenia, on Fri 29 Aug 7:22PM

  7. it was american us player Miss A Harkleroad ranked No 91 who posed nude for Playboy mag in Jul/Aug

    From xexxenia, on Fri 29 Aug 7:16PM

  8. here in New York the tall blond russian beauty Ekaterina Makarova beat top 10 seed Anna Chakvetdaze
    earlier this year she defeated top ranked Vera Zvonareva at the Eastbourne tournament

    however here now she plays Na Li ranked about 30 places above her ... maybe a different story
    she speaks to you in perfect English with a sweet smile on her face to answer your questions

    as a child she had ballet lessons , grew too tall but retained the grace & elegance of the ballet room
    she is still in the ladies doubles

    From xexxenia, on Fri 29 Aug 7:05PM

  9. safina the best!!

    From nthk8, on Fri 29 Aug 4:08PM

  10. ana should pose for playboy more often..

    From nthk8, on Fri 29 Aug 4:02PM

  11. comment 3..wat u mean the williams never lose?they lost to ferrari n bmw.

    From nthk8, on Fri 29 Aug 4:01PM

  12. I agree with Bobito..and I wish good luck to Dementieva, Jelena and Amelie!! But I think that Elena will win this time!! She deserves it!! Go for US Open 2008 Elena!!! We love you!!!

    From sideway m, on Fri 29 Aug 4:00PM

  13. Well..I think that Ana is a great player, and she has a big smile!! ..but I think that she is not consistent enough, she´s very young, but still improving..she is logically become better and better through time..we should give her a break and stop just talking about top seed on an early crush out and things like that! Every number one is a human being and cannot always be perfect....I don´t know this new french girl, she must be a tough player although ranked 188th..remember Justine Henin and everybody criticizing her....she lost a few times last year and the present one..but almost always by a player like Serena Williams, a legendary player, or Safina, a great player - you can see how much she´s improved!! and will be nr. 1 if she stays healthy - or Schiavone, a wonderful player with incredible footwork, or Sharapova, a true champion and always a big threat..still she decided to retire, cause it´s always difficult to tolerate this kind of critics..and she was the biggest number one of this century!! and an incredible talent, like Ana is..Stay healthy Ana and you´ll get some more Grand Slams!! Always smile!! congratulations to Julie Coin on her big win!!

    From sideway m, on Fri 29 Aug 3:50PM

  14. GO DEMENTIEVA! GO KUZNETSOVA! GO SAFINA! GO PETROVA! and the all other charming Russians.. GO RUSSIA!!

    From yorbyonline, on Fri 29 Aug 3:45PM

  15. Very bad day,but Ana will come back. She is the best and most beautiful women in tennis world...

    From vitodonpd, on Fri 29 Aug 2:38PM

  16. The girl has been injured for God sake. Look at the rankings for the past 5 years! Henin was the only stable #1!!

    Sharapova is considered one of the stronger players mentally and she couldn't hold the #1 ranking either!! You have to realise that tennis is very different from 10 years ago, even 5 years ago.

    Ana has a lot to learn but stop saying she's not good enough to be #1. A player that reaches Australian Open final, wins the French Open and reaches the Wmbledon semi final and the WTA Championships semi final is very capable of being #1.

    She will prove you wrong next year.

    From filipe, on Fri 29 Aug 2:28PM

  17. miss j Jankovic is most welcome to No 1" ladies" ranking & receive all the missiles & brickbats thrown

    From ballerinastar22, on Fri 29 Aug 1:34PM

  18. dear miss sfa item 33 ~~ we totally agree Ana Ivanovic is a good natured genuine happy player
    NOT a tough heartless competitor --- No 1 ranking is more appreciated by her friends & followers

    At wimbledon this year we were speaking to some of the players in their restaurant
    They freely admitted the girls game is riddled with tremendous envy & jealousy

    There are even competitors who would happily sabotage their opponents RAQUETS & KIT
    before a match {{ IF THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD GET AWAY WITH IT !!} but its not yet happened !

    Charming good natured Ana Ivanovic would be much safer in the top 6 instead of TOP GUN
    in a similar style to adorable golden girl Elena Dementieva ~~ best wishes to her

    From raymonda222, on Fri 29 Aug 1:22PM

  19. Miss Ivanovic has got the number one position merely by combination of various circumstances. She does not have the capability to play high voltage tennis like the Williams sisters or Navratilova or Steffi Graf. In other words, her tennis is quite ordinary and any player in her best form on a given day can beat Ivanovic. She has yet to learn a lot before she can beat a player decidedly.

    From M.V. Halady

    From Manohar H, on Fri 29 Aug 12:53PM

  20. don´t forget Safina she plays very well

    From feldmar6, on Fri 29 Aug 12:52PM
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