Ana Ivanovic powers to Cincinnati Women's Open quarterfinal
Ana Ivanovic has reached the quarterfinal round of the Cincinnati Women’s Open 2010 on Thursday after knocking down Russian opponent Elena Vesnina with a score of 6-0 and 6-3 in a time of 64 minutes.
Ivanovic dropped in the world rankings to the number 62 largely because she has not managed to win a single championship in the last two seasons. Plus, she has failed to even reach the final round of any major event since March 2009.
However, the Serbian was a happy woman on Thursday when she comprehensively defeated Elena Vesnina and lost a total of three games on her way to a third round victory in Cincinnati.
Ana while commenting on her recent performances said that Marija Lojanica, her new physical fitness coach has worked really hard on her form and body.
While commenting on her female fitness coach, Ana said, “It’s a great fun actually to work with a female coach as you can enjoy every bit of your training, cracking jokes and dancing. Since she is also a women, so we do a lot of stuff together, we go for shopping, watch films apart from our training sessions which really refreshes my mind to a great deal of extent.”
Marija, who works with the Fed Cup side of her country, teamed up with Ana Ivanovic after the 2010 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Club. However, both of them know each other since the 2008 French Open champion was just thirteen years of age.
Ivanovic admitted that her game has improved a great deal as a result of her fitness as well as morale ever since she has teamed up with a female coach.
"I have worked with male coaches in the past which was kind of boring at times as the moment you are done with your training sessions; you simply go back to your rooms. And spending the entire day in a single room all alone was at times quite depressing as well. Therefore, being with a female coach is a fun in itself as we enjoy a lot once our training sessions are over”, said Ana.
Apart from the fun element, Ana while throwing some light on her game said, "I am feeling hundred percent fit at the moment and so I play more confidently on the court now. I hit the ball with greater force now and hurt my opponents more often than ever. And it’s because of my teaming up with Marija.”
The 22-year-old tennis sensation from Belgrade was previously coached by Heinz Gunthardt who was also the former coach of Steffi Graf.
Ana when asked about her present rankings said that she will get back to her top world rankings very soon.
"In some ways I think I am a better player now as compared to the past in spite of the fact that my world rankings were higher at that time. I have developed my game and play more attackingly now and off course I am more experienced in contrast to some four years back. I am a more professional and mature player now which I was not in the past”, she added.
As far as the ongoing Cincinnati Women’s Open 2010 is concerned, Ana will meet Akgul Amanmuradova, a 114th ranked tennis player in the quarterfinal match.
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