Ana Ivanovic scampers past Elina Svitolina to reach round two – US Open 2012
Former world number one, Ana Ivanovic, commenced the US Open campaign with convincing straight sets 6-3, 6-2 victory against the 17-year-old Ukrainian starlet, Elina Svitolina.
It must be a great feeling to win a match after seeing a double bagel battering in the previous encounter at the hands of the inferior ranked competitor. Ivanovic lost to Roberta Vinci in the second round of the Rogers Cup; failing
to win a single game throughout the encounter and that was the worst ever score line for the Serb in her professional career.
The opening game provided an opening for the 13th ranked Serb who managed to break serve and took a lead upfront. She continued to impress with her iconic steaming serves and retained the lead throughout the set; pressurizing
her opponent to commit several unforced errors on her way.
Svitolina dropped another breakpoint in the ninth game of the match that proved to be the last action from the first phase of the match. It looked like a bright start for the 12th seed Serb who has struggled to create
an impact in 2012.
The second set didn’t change any sort of luck for the 176th ranked Ukrainian qualifier. She continued to stumble apart on her serves; hardly managed to exert pressure on her rival who was eager to win a match and conquer
the psychological downturn.
The 24-year-old Serb won two breakpoints in the second set and showed solid skills to retain the lead until the end. She took a sigh of relief at the end of the match.
Ivanovic commented, "I'm actually very happy the way I played, considering it's the first match and especially because I only had one match on hard courts coming in, which wasn't very representative. It was tough going on court
today because I didn't know much about the opponent. She had a few matches behind her from qualifying, but I focused on my game and I did really well today. In the first game I was like, 'Oh my God, at least I should win a game."
Next competitor for the Serb is the Swede star, Sofia Arvidsson.
Tags: