Ana Ivanovic – Defending champion at Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions 2011
Former world number one, Ana Ivanovic of Serbia returns to Bali in the first week of November to defend her title at the 2011 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions.
A year end championship for the “not so elite”, the Bali event showcases eight professionals who have won at least one title in the season but failed to qualify for the WTA championships. Following a miserable season with no title win, Ivanovic was awarded a wildcard for Bali since she failed to qualify directly into the event.
Ranked 26th in the world, the former world number one’s form has taken a major hit in 2011. With no title wins this season, the Serb has failed to make it to even a single final in the year. Plagued by an abdominal injury early in the season; Ivanovic suffered early round exits in almost all of the events including a first round exit at the season opening Grand Slam, the 2011 Australian Open. Her first ‘milestone’ of the season came at Indian Wells where she made it to the final eight before falling to Marion Bartoli, coincidentally the top seed here at Bali.
What followed was yet another series of first round exits for the once top ranked Serb. Following another first round exit at the 2011 Roland Garros, Ivanovic made it to the final four of the Birmingham event. Post Birmingham, after a third round exit at Wimbledon, the Serb’s form took a major hit as she spiralled downwards in the ranking with each passing event.
Peaking only at Carlsbad with a semi-final loss to Vera Zvonareva, the former world number one continued to exit in the second round of most events. Ivanovic’s season till Bali ended with a quarterfinal showing at Beijing followed by yet another second round exit at Luxembourg.
Winner of the 2008 Roland Garros, Ivanovic has been downright disappointing in 2011. Not worthy of an appearance at Bali, Ivanovic’s wildcard is just another rouse by the tournament directors to draw in large crowds. Other than her brief stint as the world number one, Ivanovic can be chalked down as a one hit wonder alongside 2011 Roland Garros champion Li Na and 2011 US Open winner Samantha Stosur.
Coming into Bali, Ivanovic has very less chance of a successful title defence. Debuting here in 2010, the Serb moved past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Kimiko Date-Krumm and Alisa Kleybanova in the final to win the season ending crown. However, this time around the likes of Marion Bartoli and Sabine Lisicki make Ivanovic’s chances extremely bleak.
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