Ana Ivanovic primed to break title drought in Linz
It’s been two years since Ana Ivanovic won her last WTA Tour title, when the Serb defeated Vera Zvonareva in the final of the Generali Ladies Linz.
But as Ivanovic returns to the Austrian tournament as the seventh seed in 2010, could the time be right for her title drought to break?
Perhaps, just perhaps, it is.
Ivanovic’s rise to and fall from the top of the tennis tree has been well documented: armed with that powerful forehand and brimming with youthful confidence, in 2008 she was crowned French Open champion and ascended to the world No. 1 ranking in the same year.
Then came the decline. A serve plagued by that wayward ball toss, which remains an issue, and an inexplicable erosion of Ivanovic’s self belief resulted in a miserable 2009 season for the 22-year-old, and a poor start to 2010 finally saw her ranking plummet out of the top-60.
Ivanovic was standing at the bottom of the mountain looking up, but with new coach Heinz Gunthardt (appointed early in the season) in her corner, the former Grand Slam champion has made some encouraging steps towards reaching the summit once again.
The US Open saw Ivanovic produce her most positive tennis at a major for more than 12 months. “I feel like I'm playing like a top-10 player, you know, and I have confidence that I can beat these players. That's huge for me,” Ivanovic said after winning her second round match.
Though she was ultimately put to the sword by eventual champion Kim Clijsters in the fourth round, there were reasons to hope Flushing Meadows might prove to be the long-awaited turning point.
But if doubts still persisted after that, Ivanovic’s run to the quarter-finals in Beijing last week – holding her nerve to defeat Elena Dementieva in two tiebreak sets in the third round before putting up a strong fight in her loss to new world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the final eight – must have gone a long way to erasing them.
That result saw Ivanovic re-enter the top-30, and she takes up a wildcard position in a relatively weak Linz draw (which doesn’t feature a player inside the top-25) with momentum on her side and a couple of handy top-15 victories in her pocket (Dementieva and Marion Bartoli) from Beijing.
The withdrawal of world No. 2 Serena Williams through injury has opened up the draw for someone to pounce, and a rejuvenated Ivanovic could just be the one to do it.
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