Sweet song for Serbia, Part II:
Ivanovic goes from good to dominant
Ana plants flag in Slams, Tier Is
Ana Ivanovic is no longer a guest at big
tournaments. Anne-Marie StarkSvetlana
Kuznetsova didn't show the power to win.FROM
THE PACIFIC LIFE OPEN IN INDIAN WELLS – Ana Ivanovic's childhood
heroine, Monica Seles, didn't scale up the ladder as slowly as the statuesque
and deceptively ambitious brunette has. For Seles it was: Here I come,
ba-boom, ka-boom, see what just hit you between the eyes, Steffi?
New Pacific Life Open champion Ivanovic's career
has been full of fits and starts, a title at the beginning of 2005 in
small Canberra and then impressive wins followed by erratic losses. Her
next title didn't come until Tier I '06 Montreal, when the Serbian stunned
Martina Hingis for the title. But that was her sole crown that season
as her serve, her fitness and her decision-making were suspect.
Last year, she began to improve all these areas
but still wasn't quite right yet; titles came her way in Berlin, Los
Angeles and Luxembourg. But peppered in between those titles and some
Slam wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic
and Nicole Vaidisova were bizarre upsets and significant losses to Justine
Henin, Venus Williams and to Sharapova.
She wasn't quite ready for prime time, because
she wasn't sure if she quite belonged. Seles won seven Slam crowns before
she was 20, the age Ivanovic is now. Sharapova won her first Slam at
17, Martina Hingis at 16. Ivanovic is a more impressive athletic specimen
than all of them, but her heart, head and technique were all in question.
But a new Ivanovic arrived in Australia, with added
muscle, minus a few pounds, smarter and trusting her racket and head.
There she out-fought Venus and came back on Daniela
Hantuchova, but let her emotions get the better of her while trying to
think her way through points against Sharapova. Then came admirable play
in Fed Cup, an injury in Doha, a sporadic and limping loss to Elena Dementieva
in Dubai.
But she picked herself up by her long ponytail
in the desert, winning her first Tier I title in the US by blasting second-seed
Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3 for her first Pacific Like Open title.
"I needed more time to get mature and to realize
that potential I have," Ivanovic said. "My coaches always believed
in me by working with me, and they always said I had potential to win
Grand Slams. As long as I didn't believe it inside, it was impossible
for me to do it. But now slowly I believe that I can do it, and also
competing against top players and beating them regularly. Trying to win
a big tournament, that's also something that gives you confidence and
it's necessary in order to win a Grand Slam. I think I'm in a good way."
TOP SEED TO CHAMPION She sure is, but let's see if
she can back it up. If there is one glaring positive that she can take
out of the tournament: For the first time, she came into a Tier I as
the top seed and was never completely knocked off her stride. She could
have been knocked out by Francesca Schiavone on Stadium 3, but survived.
She out-muscled the tough Vera Zvonareva, toyed with her in-country rival
Jelena Jankovic and showed a much more penetrating forehand than Kuznetsova.
"I was a little bit nervous coming into this
tournament," she said. "It's such a strong field and still
I'm No. 1 seed. Obviously more pressure comes into the play. The first
few matches I was more nervous, but then I just started to focus on each
match and not even think about whom I play, just to do what I have been
doing in practice. So thinking technically what I got to do and as the
tournament was going on and on, I played better. So I was really happy
about that."
Kuznetsova had played very well during the event,
tackling Sharapova in the semis with a fast, determined attack. But Ivanovic
got off to a fast start and never let Kuznetsova dictate in the match,
keeping the points short, daring her to get into crosscourt forehand
rallies, keeping her off balance with her serve.
She kept clean in backhand rallies, placed her
serve well and received a number of negotiable mid-court returns and
consistently changed direction.
She broke the Russian to 5-4 in the first set behind
two gigantic forehand winners that even the quick Kuznetsova was forced
to watch whiz by. She blasted a forehand down-the-line, return-of-serve
winner to break Kuznetsova to 4-3 in the second set, and then in the
final game, cut loose with another forehand off a good Kuznetsova serve
to win her sixth career title.
And although Ivanovic is a well-spoken, sometimes
cool-headed woman, she let out a girlish squeal of delight that nearly
pierced the windows of the corporate boxes that surround the stadium.
"During the match to keep it inside and to
control it," said Ivanovic, who nailed 30 winners in the match. "Even
if I'm angry or when I'm positive sometimes I do little squeak. I don't
try to do it or I don't try to control it. It was a lot of emotion and
tension built up inside, so it was just a moment of happiness."
IS SHE READY TO CHALLENGE HENIN? She has every right
to be happy, because now her pre-tournament vow of being a serious contender
for No. 1 this year has to be taken quite seriously. She's a better decision-maker,
is adding more shots and, if she maintains her vow of charging net more,
could sport an all-around game that could rival top-ranked Henin.
But like Djokovic, she needs to follow up her impressive
run in Miami next week, for as good as she's been, Ivanovic has rarely
been able put together two brilliant runs in a row.
"I
have big goal, you know, to make it one more step in the rankings and to
become No. 1," she said. "It's very tough competition, and I
think there are many, many players that are really close in achieving that.
So that's my goal definitely. But I don't want to get overexcited about
it. I'm really enjoying my time and I'm playing some good tennis and I
worked hard for it. The hard work is paying off, so I'm just happy to see
that. But that's definitely my goal, to continue strong next week. There
are tough opponents even in the first few rounds. The nerves are a little
bit more involved in the first few rounds. But coming from this tournament
I have confidence."
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