|
29.03.2005
Ana Ivanovic with Nicole
Vaidisova lost doubles match against Maria Kirilenko (RUS)
and Ma. Emilia Salerni (ARG) with score 4:6
4:6.
30.03.2005 
Top seed Amelie
Mauresmo of France advanced to the semi-finals of the
Key Biscayne WTA tier one tournament, beating Serbian
rising star Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-4.
Mauresmo
opened up a 5-0 lead before Ivanovic was on the
scoreboard, but after just 21 minutes the top seed had
secured that first set without facing a break point. In
the second she created a 3-0 advantage but was broken
for the first time when she dropped serve in the foruth
game.
However,
Mauresmo kept herself in front by managing to fend off a
break point in the sixth game. She broke Ivanovic to go
up 5-2 but while serving for the match played some
careless points to drop serve. Maursmo then had two
match points on Ivanovic's serve in the ninth game but
wasn't able to close it out. She did a game later when
she had a second opportunity to finish the match on her
own serve.
"She
surprised me a little bit at 3 0," said Mauresmo.
"She started really to hit pretty hard and
everything was in. I was a little bit surprised about
that. I probably should have reacted more quickly to
this situation than having to close it off at 5 4 in the
second, which is always a tough situation.
"In the second set I had some chances, but she
played well on those points and she didn't really give
me a chance to come back," Ivanovic said.
| Match
Statistics
|
|
|
| |
Ivanovic |
Kuznetsova |
|
1st Serve %
|
63
% |
61
% |
|
Aces
|
3 |
2 |
|
Double Faults
|
5 |
1 |
| Unforced
Errors |
34 |
13 |
|
Winning % - 1st Serve
Pts.
|
17
of 29 = 59 %
|
27
of 35 = 87 % |
|
Winning % - 2nd Serve
Pts.
|
3
of 17 = 18 % |
9
of 22 = 41 % |
| Winners |
17 |
13 |
|
Break Point
Conversions
|
2
of 4 = 50 % |
5
of 8 = 63 % |
| Net
Approaches |
7
of 13 = 54 % |
6
of 9 = 67 % |
|
Total Points Won
|
41 |
62 |
"I've
felt since the tournament started I'm playing better and
better," Mauresmo said. "Probably the first
set and a half that I played today were the best ones.
But I thought she was giving me a lot of free points as
well."
Despite
the loss, Ivanovic had a terrific two-week stay in Miami
that included victories against No.10 seed Nadia Petrova
and No.6 Svetlana Kuznetsova, which was her first career
Top 10 victory.
But
the 17-year-old is still searching for answers on how to
defeat Mauresmo after falling to the Frenchwoman for the
third time so far this year.
"She
was just playing constantly good," Ivanovic said.
"In the first set I think I made some unforced
errors. She was also serving quite well and returning
well on my serve and I had some double-faults. So in the
second set I tried to come back, but she was just on
every ball."
Ivanovic
was playing through a pair of injuries this week in
order to reach her first Tier I quarterfinal. She came
to Miami nursing a sore hamstring and wound up twisting
her ankle in her first practice session at the event.
Despite the aches and pains, Ivanovic was pleased with
her performances during the fortnight.
"Definitely
this was my great effort," Ivanovic said. "I
beat a Top 10 player for the first time. I got a lot of
experience, so many things to learn, even from this
match. And there are still so many things I have to
improve in my game, so I'm really looking forward to
that."
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