Ivanovic hits rock bottom

"I can't remember last time I had a match like this, maybe not since I was junior," said 11th seed Ana Ivanovic after a 6-0 6-0 loss to Roberta Vinci in the second round of the Rogers Cup. Actually, it's her first double bagel loss since turning professional! The match lasted 44 minutes and the Serbian No.1 earned just three game points, while Vinci faced no break points. The world No.12 Ivanovic won the tournament in 2006.

Serbian No.2 and 13th seed at the Rogers Cup, Jelena Jankovic, followed her compatriot's exit path. There were no bagels, but Jankovic won just five games, 6-2 6-3, against home player Aleksandra Wozniak, against whom she used to be 4-0 in career meetings. The 18th-ranked Jankovic has now lost 12 of her last 16 opening matches.

Also out in the second round were seed No.12 Dominika Cibulkova and seed No.15 Sabine Lisicki, who fell to Varvara Lepchenko and Carla Suarez Navarro respectively.

Second seed Agnieszka Radwanska avoided a second straight loss of an opener, after her first-round defeat at the Olympics, surviving a nail-biter against Mona Barthel, who had a 4-2 lead in the third set, then a match point at 6-5 and again a 4-1 lead in the tiebreak. Radwanska won in the end: 4-6 6-3 7-6(5). (photo: sr_cranks)

Clijsters remains unbeaten by Ivanovic, Venus falls to Kerber

Kim Clijsters will likely end her career with a perfect 6-0 record against fellow Grand Slam champion and former No.1 Ana Ivanovic. In their today's encounter at the London Olympics, Clijsters won 84% of points on first serve (69% of her first serves got in) and defeated the 11th-seeded Ivanovic 6-3 6-4 in just 58 minutes, despite hitting 10 winners less than the Serb. The third-round victory came pretty smoothly to Clijsters and only in the beginning of the second set she faced bigger challenges, when double faults at 0-1 eased Ivanovic's way to break points. However, Clijsters saved them, held her serve and finished the match without losing service games.

Venus Williams wasted three set points and a 5-1 lead in the first-set tiebreak, while in the second set she blew a 3-1 lead to fall to this year's Wimbledon semifinalist Angelique Kerber 7-6(5) 7-6(5). Kerber is making her Olympic debut, while Venus is looking for a record fourth gold medal in the Olympic tennis, which she still has a shot at thanks to the women's doubles alongside sister Serena.

Serena Williams lost just one game, 6-1 6-0, in the third round against Vera Zvonareva (the only women's singles medalist from the Bejing Olympics who played this year, as Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina have retired), Petra Kvitova beat Flavia Pennetta 6-3 6-0, Victoria Azarenka, after saving set points, advanced with a straight-set victory over Nadia Petrova 7-6(6) 6-4, and Maria Kirilenko took out Julia Goerges 7-6(5) 6-3. (source: The Washington Post, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The discreet fashion of Wimbledon 2012

Last year fashion was the topic of Wimbledon with Bethanie Mattek Sands' tennis-ball jacket and Venus Williams' awkward zipper-outfit, but this year tenniswear is in the safe zone, except for Serena Williams' color challenge. Let's have a closer look.

Serena Williams challenged the White Clothing Rule by pairing the Nike Women's London Statement Baseline Dress with cerise shorts/knickers and a matching headband, while Wimbledon requires the outfits to be without solid mass of coloring and little or no dark or bold colors. Nike was not pushing the boundaries with defending champion Petra Kvitova, who was traditionally wearing a sporty, ordinary outfit.

Maria Sharapova, the fresh proud owner of a career Grand Slam, is always fully-prepared for fashion scrutiny, thinking out her outfits in detail from head to toe with the Nike team. For the touch of color that the white Wimbledon allows, Sharapova chose liquid lime. Here you can see how the Nike Women's Maria Slam Statement Dress looks from the back.

My favorite of the tournament is Maria Kirilenko in the Adidas Adipure line. The white dress with a pleated skirt features craft emerald contrasting stripes. Read more »

Sharapova, Clijsters, Ivanovic fall in round four of Wimbledon

Sabine Lisicki loves Wimbledon, she's played her one and only Grand Slam semifinal there last year, and this time she's again making her mark on grass by upsetting top seed Maria Sharapova in the fourth round 6-4 6-3. Actually, it was Sharapova who prevented Lisicki from reaching the final last time and now the German has not only avenged the loss, but also earned her first victory over the Russian. Moreover, not only is Sharapova a world No.1, she's the 2004 Wimbledon champion and the reigning Roland Garros titlist. Lisicki outplayed her and scored her third win over a Roland Garros champion at Wimbledon.

Kim Clijsters was playing her last Wimbledon, the only Grand Slam at which she has failed to reach the final, and her conqueror was Angelique Kerber, the sole Top 10 player whom she had never faced before. The eighth-seeded Kerber, the WTA leader for match wins this year, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-1 6-1 victory.

Some experts favored seed No.14 Ana Ivanovic in the encounter with second seed Victoria Azarenka, but that was far from the outcome of this fourth-round clash as Ivanovic was destroyed 6-1 6-0. Since her 2008 Roland Garros triumph, Ivanovic hasn't reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal, and she played all the 16 Grand Slam events!

There was no upset in the match between Serena Williams and the golden-set Yaroslava Shvedova, although the Kazakh did give a stiff challenge before losing 6-1 2-6 7-5. Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska beat Camila Giorgi, who recorded her first two Top 20 wins during this Wimbledon, 6-2 6-3, while defending champion Petra Kvitova took out Francesca Schiavone 4-6 7-5 6-1.

So let's see who the quarterfinal pairs are (seedings are in brackets): Sabine Lisicki (15) vs. Angelique Kerber (8), Agnieszka Radwanska (3) vs. Maria Kirilenko (17), Serena Williams (6) vs. Petra Kvitova (4), Tamira Paszek vs. Victoria Azarenka (2). As you can notice, the resurgent Paszek is the only unseeded player in the quarters. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Ana Ivanovic still without boyfriend

A few months ago, somewhere in March or April 2012, Ana Ivanovic broke up with boyfriend Adam Scott and during a Wimbledon interview the Serbian beauty confirmed that she is still single.

Here's how Ivanovic explained her relationship status (translated from Serbian source Puls):

I don't have a boyfriend… Hahaha… For now I'm single. Tennis is most important in my life right now, but in the future I plan to get married and have lots of children. That's my wish.

The 24-year-old also talked about her post-tennis career plans:

I love fashion and I'm planning to create a line with Adidas. Gabriela Sabatini did something similar. When my career is over, I know what I will be doing, but I will not be a TV commentator.

Ivanovic and Scott started dating in the beginning of 2009, but they did have one break-up, probably somewhere in September 2010, while news about their reunion hit the media in August/September 2011. So according to our records, this latest should be the second split.

At the ongoing Wimbledon, Ivanovic has progressed to the second week, beating Julia Goerges in the third round 3-6 6-3 6-4 to set up a last 16 meeting with world No.2 Victoria Azarenka. Ivanovic has now reached the fourth round of three of the last four Grand Slams. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)


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