Ana Ivanovic downs Kimiko Date-Krumm to advance at BNP Paribas Open
19th seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic defeated world number 56, Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm in the second round. She earned a 6-4, 6-2 victory over the Japanese to advance in the 2011 BNP Paribas Open on Friday night.
Former world number one, Ivanovic reached the quarter-finals at Pattaya City before losing to 5th seeded Italian Roberta Vinci. Though she exited from the first rounds at Dubai and the Australian Open, she entered this
tournament confidently and reached directly at this round. She displayed her tremendous skills and hammered three ferocious aces to overpower the Japanese in straight sets.
The 40-years-old Japanese has had a poor winning record this season. She was ousted from the first rounds at Auckland, Hobart, the Australian open, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and now from here as well. Despite having a higher first serve
percentage of 66 percent as opposed to Ivanovic’s 52 percent in the opening set, she failed to capitalize on it. The 23-years-old Serb, on the other hand registered an early break and earned an impressive 82 percent win on her first serve to win the set 6-4.
Ivanovic carried her winning ways into the second set. She broke the Japanese’s serve in the very first game and held her serve in the following game to secure a 2-0 lead. Although Date-Krumm managed a win on her serve in the third
game, the raging Serb continued her attack, extending her lead to 5-1. Regardless of double faulting twice and having a similar first serve percentage of 61 per cent, the Serb eventually clinched the set 6-2. She also registered an astonishing 71 percent win
on her first serve.
Ranked 21st in the world, Ivanovic outplayed the Japanese to book a spot for himself in the third round where she will be facing Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. The Czech star reached this spot after upsetting her
12th seeded compatriot Petra Kvitova in three sets in another late night match.
Strycova broke Kvitova’s serve eight times and earned a higher first serve percentage to bounce back and win. She registered a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over her compatriot. However, she needs to practice harder to overcome the in-form
Serb if she wishes to advance further in this event.
Tags: