Day 6: Mauresmo Stunned by Ivanovic
May 28, 2005

But the story of the day was undoubtedly the demise of world No.3 Amelie Mauresmo at the hands of 17-year-old Serbian Ana Ivanovic, seeded No.29.

Mauresmo, in search of her first Grand Slam title, is under even greater pressure to succeed when on home soil. It was hoped the temporary hiring of Yannick Noah as an adviser to the former No.1 would help her cause; in the end, Mauresmo suffered her earliest loss in Paris in six years.

"I had always said this would be a tough opponent," said a dejected Mauresmo. "She has improved a lot in the past months, and it's true that I played her three times since the beginning of the year with a month's interval each time, and I could see the evolution in her game. I knew that she was making fast progress, so I wasn't surprised by her game."

In their fourth meeting this year - all three previous matches won by Mauresmo, the first being in the same round at the Australian Open - Mauresmo started as favorite. But a three-set match in Doha showed the up-and-coming Ivanovic was edging closer to a breakthrough win.

Playing flawless, attacking tennis, Ivanovic opened up a 64 31 lead, much to the dismay of the partisan French crowd. They got behind Mauresmo and carried her to consecutive service breaks and the second set, 6-4. Suddenly, the momentum was with Mauresmo, who has never progressed past the quarterfinals here.

But just as quickly as she wrested control of the match, it was taken from her once more. Again, Ivanovic surged to 3-1 in the third set with controlled aggression. Again, Mauresmo closed the gap, breaking back immediately to get proceedings back on serve for a dramatic end to the match.

Games went with serve until the 10th game, with Mauresmo needing to hold to stay in the tournament. Falling behind 0-40, Mauresmo was in a hole she found impossible to dig herself out of. A double fault on match point sealed her fate for another year.

"My two previous serves were good," said of her last service game. "I'd been serving quite well on my first serve, that last game I didn't serve well. My first serve wasn't going in; it was a bit disastrous. There were a few moments like that in the match, and unfortunately that was one of them."

"Well, I'm really pleased I took my opportunities," said Ivanovic after the biggest win of her career. "I think she also had some opportunities, but still I think I played very well in the end and I think that's what decided today."

Like the other seven third round winners on Saturday, Ivanovic must back up again on Sunday, when she takes on No.22 seed Francesca Schiavone. Schiavone scored a hard-fought win over German teenager Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 76(3) 75.

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