Ana Ivanovic stoops to Sara Errani in round three – French Open 2012
Former world number one, Ana Ivanovic, was stunned by the 24th ranked Italian, Sara Errani, in the third round of the Roland Garros French Open on Friday. She won the first set comprehensively but couldn’t contain the
Italian in the following two; lost 6-1, 5-7, 3-6.
It was the first defeat for the Serb in the three head-to-head matches contested between the two players. Errani had earlier lost twice in 2009 during the first round of the French Open and second round of the Wimbledon. However,
the Italian’s form these days is stunning and she is not forgiving anyone who is coming in her way.
The match started with a serve hold and the Serb took the lead in the opening set with an early breakpoint. She doubled the lead in the fifth game having lost the breakthrough on her way. She squashed the Italian to all corners
of the courts and bagged the opening set with three breakpoints on the trot. It was such a start that the 13th seed Serb wanted to have in order to stamp her authority in the match but she knew little about the onslaught that was coming her way.
The second set witnessed a serve hold at both ends before a double exchange of breakpoints took place. Errani looked a tougher competitor in the second set and kept the scores together at 4-4. Both players held their serves in
the following four games before Ivanovic was forced to drop the final serve game of the set that proved to be suicidal in the end.
Stage was set for an epic finale and both players swapped breakpoints at the start to raise the tempo of the match. Three more breakpoints were contested in the rest of the set that fell in favour of the Italian who was the deserving
winner of the match. The Serb committed 40 unforced errors; a high percentage that is highly unlikely of her.
Sara Errani moves into the fourth round of the tournament and locks horns with the in-form Russian big gun, Svetlana Kuznetsova, who stunned the third seed Pole, Agnieszka Radwanska, in round three.
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