2010 Commonwealth Bank tournament of Champions; Ana
Ivanovic wins her second crown of the season in Bali
Just three weeks after capturing a trophy in Linz, the professional tennis player from Serbia, Ana Ivanovic earned her second title of the season at the 2010 Commonwealth Bank tournament of Champions on Sunday. Ana, as a result
of this victory has also improved her career ranking to number seventeen in the South African Airways WTA list on Monday.
The 23 year old Ana broke a head-to-head tie with Alisa Kleybanova in an unseeded title battle, crushing her compatriot hard hitting opponent on the fourth occasion in seven career clashes with a straight set victory in Bali. The
final match score was 6-2, 7-6(5).
After trading breaks early in the decisive set both the contenders held serve right until the tie-break as they were levelled for much of that too. However a double fault from Alisa at 3-3 provided Ana the edge she required and
the former world number one rode that small break to the crown, smashing a huge ace to close out the battle in the end.
"I would like to congratulate Alisa for a great week and a fun week too. She gave me a really hard match today. Thanks to all of you who show up every day and give us big support all year. We have all had a lot of fun in Bali and
I really expect to see you all next season,” explained Ana in her post match interview on Sunday.
After making her way to the top level of the game back in 2008, capturing the French Open crown and rising to number one in the South African Airways list, Ana struggled in terms of her form due to a couple of back to back injuries
and as a result performed inconsistently over the following two years.
The Basel resident finished the summer strongly, advancing into the semi final round in Cincy and the round of sixteen at the year’s final Grand Slam, the United States Open in New York. However it was at the end of the season
where the Serbian actually started rolling, triumphing in thirteen of her past fifteen clashes on the tour. She also won her ninth and tenth career crown during the same period in Linz and most recently in Bali.
Ana, who turned 23 years old two days ago, has also returned to the top twenty with her final victory in Bali on the very first occasion since last year.
While commenting on her performance over the last few months, the right hander said that she is really happy with her current form and is looking forward to keep it up for the next couple of months as well.
The 21 year old Alisa, on the other hand, despite losing the title battle, also had her career-best season, making her way into her first three WTA tour level finals, capturing trophies in Kuala Lumpur and Seoul and now finishing
as runner up in Bali.
When asked about her opponent’s game, Alisa said that Ana had a great week and rightly deserved the victory in the end.
Meanwhile, Daniela Hantuchova and Kimiko Date Krumm, the two championship wildcard entrants who were defeated by Kleybanova and Ana respectively in the final four battle, met in the third place clash, with Date Krumm triumphing
in a close two setter battle. The final match score was 7-5, 7-5. It was Kimiko's third win in the pair's three career encounters.
“Even though it was not my best tennis, I tried my best. I beat Li Na and Daniela here, so this championship has been a great success for me, and I will take a couple of days off before flying to Guangzhou for the Asian Games,”
reflected Kimiko after her victory in Bali.
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