Ivanovic storms past Zheng, Azarenka collapses at US Open

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Wilson Blade 9

Ana Ivanovic at US Open 2010Victoria Azarenka at US Open 2010

Ana Ivanovic needed just 56 minutes to beat seed No.21 Zheng Jie and advance to the third round of the US Open.

The world No.40 Ivanovic is building on the momentum started in Cincinnati recently, which was abruptly interrupted by a left foot injury. Luckily, Ivanovic is not showing signs of it and she displayed impressive form to avenge the 2008 Wimbledon defeat to Zheng, who then became the third-lowest ranked player to beat a reigning world No.1.

Tenth seed Victoria Azarenka could not bear the hot weather in New York and 34 minutes into her second round match against Gisela Dulko, while trailing 5-1, Azarenka collapsed and had to be taken off the court in a wheelchair and was later transported to the hospital. Also, it didn’t help that Azarenka was wearing an all-black dress in the sun (the dress Serena would have worn hadn’t she withdrawn).

Dulko, who is now through to the third round, commented on the weather conditions: “It’s really hot, really humid. You sweat so much, sometimes it’s impossible to hold the racquet.”

Update: It has been revealed that heat was not the main reason for the accident, but Azarenka’s fall in the gym that happened before the match.

Here’s Azarenka’s statement:

I was warming up in the gym prior to my match against Gisela Dulko when I fell while running a sprint. I fell forward and hit my arm and head. I was checked by the medical team before I went on court and they were courtside for monitoring. I felt worse as the match went on, having a headache and feeling dizzy. I also started having trouble seeing and felt weak before I fell.

(photo: © Neal Trousdale)

12 COMMENTS

  1. Great performance by Ana 🙂
    Poor Vicky, she is very sensitive on hot weather, I completly understand her, I am practicing just a bit and when it’s hot I get dizzy (and my game compares to hers is really nothing). Hopefuly, she will be fine soon.

  2. I agree with LuLinQa. It was really great performance by Ana :-). I hope that she will fix that problem with ball toss. Good luck in the next round. Her third round opponent is V. Razzano.
    So sorry for Vika. She is such a great fighter but so fragile girl. Speedy recovery!

  3. Yay for Ana! I was so impressed with how she played. I thought the first set had gotten away from her when Zheng broke her when she served for it the first time, but thankfully not! That toss is woeful though.

    I saw Vika falling over, I felt so sorry for her. I heard that the collapse wasn’t heat-related so it’s tough to know what happened to her. Hope she gets better really soon.

  4. Actually Azarenka retired due to a head and arm injury she got whilst warming up, not the heat, however, it probably did effect Azarenka in some way, but not the predominate cause.

  5. Vika has a history of having difficulty bearing the heat. I read the official statement was that she was diagnosed with a mild concussion. Here’s Vika’s quote:

    “I was warming up in the gym prior to my match against Gisela Dulko when I fell while running a sprint. I fell forward and hit my arm and head. I was checked by the medical team before I went on court and they were courtside for monitoring. I felt worse as the match went on, having a headache and feeling dizzy. I also started having trouble seeing and felt weak before I fell. I was taken to the hospital for some medical tests and have been diagnosed with a mild concussion.”

    You see, Jacob, she hit her head and arm as well, but it’s not that she didn’t have problems coping with the heat.

    Source of quotation: http://www.onthebaseline.com/2010/09/01/victoria-azarenka-collapses-on-court-at-the-us-open/

  6. I know this, but you wrote;

    “Tenth seed Victoria Azarenka could not bear the hot weather in New York…Dulko, who is now through to the third round, commented on the weather conditions: “It’s really hot, really humid. You sweat so much, sometimes it’s impossible to hold the racquet.”

    im just saying, the heat wasn’t the predominate cause of victorias retirement, because you are saying it was.

  7. I hope Azarenka gets well she is one of the best young players on tour…as for Ana she will lose soon as usual..lost faith in that silly fist pump

  8. I’m so sorry for Vika!! When the next morning I saw the video I was stunned …It was a really unfortunate fall…

  9. Well, seems that Ana’s hanging in there, sceptics! I always had a hope that she would overcome the “dark period” of her career. Her match with Razzano ended just minute ago and she bagelled her in the second set. Happy news for Serbia :-). Ana is playing much more convincingly than Jelena at the moment who wins her matches by luck at this UO. Her last match with Lucic was shockingly one-sided (from Lucic) at times. She basically won it thanks to her opponent’s UEs.

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