Tennis Hottie Ana Ivanovic defeated Venus Williams her first WTA Tour title in more than two years. This battle of former #1 players ended with a 6-2 5-7 6-4 victory for Ivanovic in the Auckland Classic giving her some momentum heading into the Australian Open.
Posted by Christopher Glotfelty (09/05/2009 @ 3:11 pm)
The third round of the 2009 U.S. Open has nearly finished amidst the surprisingly welcoming weather at New York’s National Tennis Center. So far, there haven’t been many surprises. The top 16-ranked men all advanced rather seamlessly. Serena and Venus have had an easy time as well. Unfortunately, they are in the same draw and will likely meet in the semis. The other top female players are, as always, playing below their rank, as upsets and narrow victories are happening left and right.
This has been a topsy-turvy U.S. Open for the women: No. 8 Victoria Azarenka’s 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 loss to No. 26 Francesca Schiavone on Friday came a day after No. 4 Elena Dementieva and No. 5 Jelena Jankovic were upset. All told, 11 of the 20 highest-seeded women are gone, and the third round is only halfway done.
No. 1 Dinara Safina made it to Saturday’s third round, but barely. She needed more than 4 1/2 hours to get through two three-set victories.
The best men have faced no such problems: No. 3 Rafael Nadal’s 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory Friday night in the last match of Day 5 means the men seeded 1-16 all reached the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in the 41-year Open era.
Once again, the lovely Ana Ivanovic failed to perform well in a Grand Slam, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko in the first round. Maria Sharapova, however, has advanced to third round and is currently in the third set against American Melanie Oudin. It would be great to see the former No. 1-ranked star face Serena or Venus in the finals.
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In the fourth all-Williams final at Wimbledon, Serena beat her sister Venus Williams 7-6 (3), 6-2 on Saturday for her third title and 11th Grand Slam championship.
Venus was trying to win her third straight Wimbledon, but was denied by her sister.
Venus Williams advanced to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon when opponent Ana Ivanovic retired Monday one game into the second set.
Second-seeded Serena Williams also advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Daniela Hantuchova, losing just two points on her first serve and breaking Hantuchova five times to complete the win in 56 minutes.
Venus Williams was upset in the French Open on Friday.
The third-seeded Williams, who reached the 2002 final at Roland Garros, lost to No. 29 Agnes Szavay of Hungary 6-0, 6-4.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion was playing for the third straight day. She lost the first set of her second-round match against Lucie Safarova on Wednesday before play was suspended because of darkness. Williams saved a match point before beating Safarova on Thursday.
She was also stretched to three sets in the first round.
Sounds like fatigue had something to do with it. Bummer.
