Crowd favourite Ivanovic brings some drama in late victory

Ana Ivanovic made her Dubai fans wait a bit longer than they wished, wasting three match points before booking a second-round clash with Venus Williams with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 win over Angelique Kerber, writes Ahmed Rizvi.

Serbian player Ana Ivanovic reacts after her win over German player Angelique Kerber during a Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships match on Tuesday. Sarah Dea / The National

DUBAI // Judging from the roars that followed each of her points, it was obvious who the fans wanted to win. Ana Ivanovic, however, made them wait a bit longer than they wished, wasting three match points before booking a second-round clash with Venus Williams with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 win over Angelique Kerber yesterday in the Dubai Duty Free Championships.

Having lost the opening set, the Serbian former world No 1 fought back to force Kerber into the decider.

From there, it was completely up for grabs, with major momentum shifts and dodged disasters every few minutes.

Kerber held, pushing the decider into the tie-break, where Ivanovic raced to a 5-1 lead. The world No 8, however, fought back and had a match point of her own at 6-5, but the crowd favourite survived, taking the next three points to move into the second round.

“I think it was a little bit up and down,” Ivanovic said. “First two sets, it was a little bit too many errors from my side and a little bit from her side. Then, third set, I think was a little better tennis.

“After having the three match points, I didn’t feel like I did that much wrong, but she hit a couple of really good winners.

“She’s such a tough competitor, and she retrieves lots of balls. You just have to win points over and over again.”

Ivanovic’s next opponent will not be any easier.

Williams and Ivanovic already met once this year – in the Auckland final – and the 2008 French Open winner managed to squeeze out a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 win over the seven-time grand slam champion, who is world No 1 Serena Williams’s big sister.

“It’s going to be a tough, tough match,” Ivanovic said. “She’s, I feel, playing a lot better again. She’s such a great sport and great person to have on the tour …

“Big game, big serve. We always have tough matches. So I hope it’s going to be good match and the better one will win.”

Also last night, Serena Williams defeated Ekaterina Makarova 7-6, 6-0, to move into the third round. She needed 66 minutes to close the first set 10-8 in the tie-break, but then the American shifted gears and needed only 30 more minutes to clinch the second set at love.

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