Seed No.1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia suffered a shock 6-4 5-7 6-2 loss to Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.
The fact that Ivanovic lost so early into a tournament would have been a much bigger news item, but now that Justine Henin has retired so unexpectedly, everything else in tennis will be in shade for some time.
Anyway, Ivanovic, who became top seed when Justine Henin pulled out, was never comfortable on the clay and committed 59 unforced errors to Pironkova’s 26. Also, in the second set Ivanovic twice surrendered a break advantage.
Both the Williams sisters advanced on Wednesday – Serena defeated Alona Bondarenko 6-2 6-0, and Venus beat Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-1. Also, defending champion Jelena Jankovic beat Flavia Pennetta 6-1 6-4.
