Fifth seed Ana Ivanovic advanced to the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-3 6-2 victory over world No.169 Alberta Brianti of Italy.

Good news is that Ivanovic displayed much more solid play than in her first-round match against Julia Goerges.

Brianti, who by the way looks a lot like Justine Henin, was making her first appearance in the second round of a Grand Slam.

The third day of the Australian Open has just begun and two other seeds also advanced. No.10 seed Nadia Petrova defeated Sania Mirza 6-3 6-2, while seed No.25 Kaia Kanepi beat Patricia Mayr 6-3 6-1. (photo: Getty Images)

Ana Ivanovic and Fernando Verdasco had been dating since the 2008 US Open, but the word is out that their romantic relationship has ended.

According to a friend of Ana's, the tennis star broke up with her boyfriend earlier this month, during the tournament in Brisbane.

I have to say it was suspicious. Those statements of Ana and Fernando, that tennis comes first, plus, I don't remember seeing a picture of them together this year. Moreover, Ivanovic was training in Australia for some time already, and Verdasco was nowhere to be seen. Also, Ana lost in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International, but she didn’t stay at the tournament to watch Fernando, who went all the way to the finals. Instead, Ivanovic flew to Melbourne right away.

I’m kind of happy for Ana. She can do much better, and she's proved it. As some of you may have noticed from my comments, I didn’t feel their relationship from the start, even though they were being spotted together all the time. (source: Fox Sports)

Fifth seed Ana Ivanovic wasn’t in promising form during her first-round match at the 2009 Australian Open, but eventually she managed to get past Germany’s Julia Goerges 7-5 6-3.

The 107th-ranked Goerges was the first one to break in both sets, and overall was a good challenge for erratic Ivanovic, who had constant problems with throwing the ball to serve.

In the first set Goerges was close to a 4-1 lead, but Ivanovic managed to save herself from being two breaks down, and soon leveled at 3-3. The coming games followed serve, and Ivanovic finally broke Goerges’ serve in the twelfth game to take the first set after 56 minutes of struggling. The second set started with an exchange of breaks, and the Serb made a deciding one in the eighth game, to serve out victory in the following game.

Although the match finished with both players making the same number of winners, 17, the first set ended with Goerges scoring twelve to Ivanovic’s six.

Here’s a piece of good news for all of you worried about Ivanovic’s prospects in Australia: the last year’s runner-up started her 2008 Australian Open campaign with the same score, 7-5 6-3, against Sorana Cirstea.

In the second round Ivanovic will face Alberta Brianti of Italy, who went past Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-4 6-2. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Even though Ana Ivanovic ended partnership with adidas’ coach Sven Groenefeld, and she even declared being ready to be on her own at the 2009 Australian Open, we can see the two still haven’t completely parted ways.

Ivanovic was spotted training at Melbourne Park under the watchful eye of Groenefeld. The coach who helped her reach the No.1 spot in the rankings and win the French Open will be helping her at the Australian Open.

"I don't have a full time coach but Sven still helps me on the court and he gives me some tips and will be there (in Melbourne)," said the Serb. (via Down the Line)

Ana Ivanovic is not among those who believe that Jelena Jankovic hasn't rightfully occupied the top of the rankings.

Here’s what one Serbia’s tennis star says about the other:

Jelena is obviously a great player. Whoever gets to number one deserves it. It was a very, very close race for the number one position. I think she was tough and the most consistent of all of us and she deserved that position.

I like it when tennis players respect each other’s work, and talk nice about each other.

Ivanovic’s readiness for the Australian Open

You remember Ivanovic had a stomach illness. Fortunately, now she feels healthy and fitter than ever.

Being without coach Sven Groeneveld is supposedly not a problem for Ana either:

I already do know a lot about tennis and about other players (and) I think I'm very young and maybe a full-time coach could still be very helpful. (But) at this moment, I think I can handle it the way it is.

Hehe, maybe that’s why Ana was singing Beyonce’s song "Single Ladies" in her head during matches, to encourage herself to be good enough on her own. (photo: ivanovic-ana.com)