Year 2008 will always remain Ana Ivanovic‘s unprecedented career milestone, but 2014, even without a Grand Slam title for the Serb, has shaped up into another memorable season. Overcoming Caroline Wozniacki in today’s Toray Pan Pacific Open final, the third-seeded Ivanovic won her fourth WTA title this year (after Auckland, Monterrey, Birmingham), her record number of titles in a single season, and will rise to No.5 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard.
The trophy and $196,670 in prize money went into Ivanovic’s hands after a highly successful week in which she didn’t drop a set while beating the biggest WTA names: Victoria Azarenka in the second round after a first-round bye, seventh seed Lucie Safarova in the quarterfinals, top seed Angelique Kerber in the semifinals and lastly the second-seeded Wozniacki by winning 17 successive points in the first set and coming back from 3-1 down in the second set to almost flawlessly win the tiebreak. According to Ivanovic, the key to her triumph over Wozniacki was her strategy to come forward and the fact that she won 20 of 25 points at the net played a big part in her 6-2 7-6(2) victory.
Ivanovic’s winning clothing combo: black Adidas Fall Adizero Dress from the US Open and shoes Adidas Adizero CC Tempaia III in bold pink.
Meanwhile at the KIA Korea Open in Seoul, second seed Karolina Pliskova beat fifth seed Varvara Lepchenko in the final 6-3 6-7(5) 6-2. Lepchenko had beaten top seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals. Yesterday, Monica Niculescu was victorious in Guangzhou, losing just 17 games during the entire tournament, including her 6-4 6-0 win over Alize Cornet in the final.
Marija, ana will stay world no 10 in rankings. she’ll reach no 5 in race to singapore
Sru, right, thanks for the correction.
Go, beautiful Ana! You deserve this title! You’re finally getting your groove on the court back. Keep up the great work!