Ana Ivanovic believes that she is better than before
The former world number one Ana Ivanovic from Serbia believes that she is a strong contender than before. The right hander captured the French Open crown back in 2008 and jumped to the number one rankings by the women tennis professionals.
Her professional life afterwards, however, went into a nosedive and it has been a case of a highs and lows for the Serbian who is currently ranked number twenty nine in the world.
After turning pro back in 2003, she has so far captured a single Grand Slam title at Roland Garros back in 2008 and was also a finalist in singles at the Australian Open as well as French Open back in 2008 and 2007 respectively.
However, her confidence has been lifted by a stunning week at the China Open in Beijing, where the Serbian toppled Elena Dementieva and then gave a tough time to the new top ranked Dane, Caroline Wozniacki who eventually won the title in Beijing.
In spite of the fact that Ana intended to rest this week, she didn’t hesitate when she was given a call from the WTA competition in Linz to play as replacement to the world number two Serena Williams from the United States of America.
"I am really happy I got the call and the opportunity to play here because this is the last title I won and I really have a good time here. In Beijing I really felt I was playing well and I thought why waste a good game,” said the Serbian.
She is of the view that her game is getting better day by day and is hoping to continue her form to improve her ranking and play some good tennis for the rest of the season.
"It is a bit rushed and changing to indoors from outdoors and also the time difference, but I feel I am in good shape and I just want to keep on playing. I feel my game is getting close to where it used to be and I am even more aggressive, and experience-wise
I am much more mature and a more complete player now,” added Ana who got past a couple of tough foes at the China Open last week in Beijing.
While Ana shows signs of being able to reach her top level of the game where she used to be, the same cannot be said of the French tennis player Alize Cornet, who was dismissed at the hands of Renata Voracova, a qualifier from Czech Republic in two sets.
The final match score was 6-1, 6-3.
The 20-year-old was ranked number eleven back in 2009; however, she has been defeated in the opening round of every major event in 2010, as a result of which her ranking has dropped down to as low as number eighty eight in the world. Moreover, she has also
lost in the opening rounds of a variety of ITF Challenger competitions so far in 2010.
Alize when asked about her current form and game said that she played quite well at the time when no one actually knew her and so expected nothing out of her. However, the French player now looked to have lost her rhythm and focus on the court since then.
Alize has two less seeds to take on as the third seed Alona Bondarenko from Ukraine was defeated at the hands of her Italian foe, Roberta Vinci in two sets. The final match score was 6-2, 6-2. Meanwhile, the fourth seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia was
also dismissed by another qualifier Eleni Daniilidou 6-2, 6-4.
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