U.S. Open 2010: Victoria Azarenka crashes out, Ana Ivanovic advances to third round
10th seed Victoria Azarenka was immediately taken to hospital after falling down on court during her game against Gisela Dulko in New York on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old player from Belarus couldn’t resist the heat and collapsed while serving at 1 game to 5 with a score of 15-30 in the seventh game.
She left the ground on a wheelchair and later disclosed that the incident was the result of an earlier fall in practice.
"I was taken to the hospital for few tests and have been diagnosed with a minor concussion. During my warm up session in the gym prior to the start of the clash, I fell once and as a result hit my head and arm. However, I was checked by the doctors before my yesterday’s clash and they remained outside the court for any emergency. I felt weak and dizzy as the match started on and this feeling started worsening as it proceeded,” said Victoria after the match.
Azarenka was struggling under the sun as early as the third game and she couldn’t recover afterwards.
In a statement released by Brian Earley, the referee of the United States Open clarified that Azarenka withdrew from the clash as a result of headache-like symptoms. She was immediately taken to hospital for some medical tests. However, Earley refused to give any more details while clarifying that the incident did not occur as a result of the intense heat on that day.
In other action on Wednesday, former world number one Ana Ivanovic made her way into the third round of the United States Open after crushing 21 seed Zheng Jie from China in a total of two sets in New York. The final match score was 6-3, 6-0.
Serbian player Ana Ivanovic, after the match, opined that she at last feels like she is playing her top level game once again. The 22-year-old player, who has dropped to as low as number 40 in the world by WTA owing to a plethora of injuries, managed to produce a career best performance at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday. As a result of this victory, the Serbian has booked her place in the final 32 in the women’s field at the U.S. Open 2010.
“I remember few years ago when I came here as a top ranked player but didn’t play at my very best. However, now I feel as if I am playing like a top ranked tennis contender and my confidence level has increased to a great extent and I know that I can beat any world class player now,” claimed Ana Ivanovic after the match.
Ana’s confidence along with her game affected her French Open victory back in 2008 as a result of back-to-back injuries.
However, after teaming up with Steffi Graf’s former coach, her game has tremendously improved.
In her match against Zheng, the Serbian’s serve as well as her forehand looked extremely solid right from the start of the match.
She fired a total of 22 winners and seemed to be fine with her foot injury that had caused her to withdraw from her previous championship in Cincinnati, where she made it to the final four.
After the match, Ana said, “Now I feel like I am all set to play like a top class player and I am glad that my body has also recovered and therefore I won’t be having any problems for the upcoming matches of the United States Open tennis tournament in New York as well.”
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