Serena Williams outshines Ana Ivanovic in 4th round – US Open 2011
Thirteen time grand slam winner Serena Williams was the favourite to play on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Monday afternoon as she took on Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round. As both players were duelling to secure a berth in the quarter
final of the US Open 2011, Serena was pushed by Ivanovic to take a notch higher in her performance. The home girl won the match with a 6-3, 6-4 victory in just 74 minutes.
The two former world number one players have collided against each other twice prior to this event with Serena emerging victorious on both occasions. In their third meeting one would’ve expected Ivanovic win this match, however,
since Serena was back to her vintage form with a few modifications, she was the favourite to win.
Not wanting to lose her winning streak and looking for redemption Serena opened the set without much opposition at 1-0 by smashing four consecutive aces. She then went on to dominating the game in the next two games as she had
secured a lead of 3-0 in the first three games. Unfortunately for Serena, Ivanovic’s luck kicked in and in the fourth game she was finally able to hold her serve. During the fifth and sixth game both won on alternate serves but in the seventh Ivanovic broke
Serena. Both the players were toe for a toe but Serena was not ready to give up her lead and quickly broke back in the eighth game. Serena was now serving for the set and with extreme care warded off Ivanovic and held her serve to win the set at 6-3.
The first set saw Serena power through to take the lead and then as she held her serve, she hit 4 aces and 6 winners to secure a first set victory. Now, she only needed to secure a second set to ease into the quarter final.
This time it was Ivanovic who was serving first and smashing three aces at 15-15 she bagged the first game without much opposition from Serena. Both players were facing extreme difficulty in serving as the wind picked up; nonetheless,
both the players had managed to win on their serves in the first eight games. Serena was the first to break in the ninth game and the score board read as 5-4. In the ninth game Serena was serving for the match and smashed five aces back-to-back to ease into
the quarter final of the US Open 2011.
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