Ana Ivanovic’s preparations for the defense of her French Open title suffered a setback as she was defeated 6-1 3-6 6-4 by Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round. Interestingly, the Serb was leading 4-0 in the third set, but the tenth-seeded Radwanska won six games in a row to advance to the quarterfinals.
World number one and top seed Dinara Safina almost joined Ivanovic in saying goodbye to Rome, but she fought back from a double break down in the third set to beat Chinese 14th seed Zheng Jie 5-7 6-1 7-6 (3) in a thrilling third-round match.
Third seed Jelena Jankovic, who is aiming for her third consecutive Internazionali BNL d’Italia title, felt good on the court and was leading 6-1 1-0 when her opponent Kateryna Bondarenko retired with illness.
Svetlana Kuznetsova is continuing her good period with a 6-3 3-6 6-0 victory over Flavia Pennetta, while Patty Schnyder, who upset self-proclaimed world No.1 Serena Williams in the previous round, fell to seed No.16 Kaia Kanepi 6-3 6-0. Victoria Azarenka advanced by beating Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 6-2. Also, notice that world No.48 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who upset No.11 seed Marion Bartoli in the second round, today defeated No.8 seed Nadia Petrova 6-4 6-7(5) 6-4. The last to join the quarterfinals was Venus Williams who defeated Anna Chakvetadze 6-0 6-7(8) 6-4.
Quarterfinal pairs: Safina vs. Petrova, V. Williams vs. A. Radwanska, Kuznetsova vs. Jankovic, Azarenka vs. Kanepi.
Marija, I thought this article was rather interesting considering interviews are listed on the official website; the comparison between Ivanovic and Safina was completely ironic and totally unprecedented.
http://www.tennis-x.com/story/2009-05-06/h.php
Marija, the interviews are integrated in the ‘News’ section, there is a short introduction and summary which on the main page would seem as newspaper articles, however, the rest would be the ‘main’ quotes from interviews.
– Yes indeed, very subjective and trivial language from the author (Tennis X) and the use of a la Dinara tautologies!
Zuleika, where are they listed, on the WTA’s official website? Where?
I think that the comparison is simply the product of clumsy writing, nothing else. Don’t you agree?
But I have to notice Dinara’s statement: “I’m practicing and I’m playing great and aggressive and suddenly I come on court and it’s completely like 360 degrees, a completely different person playing on the court.” Hahahaha 🙂 if you turn 360 degrees you go back into the same place.
Azarenka has demolished Wozniacki in their last two meetings. On hard court in the finals at Memphis and now on clay, so far Azarenka is clearly playing on a higher level than the rest of the youngters.
I did not see the the Ivanovic match, did she had a melt down?
I also didn’t watch the match, but you must have a meltdown to spoil a 4-0 lead. Here’s how her site explains it: “She stormed into a 4-0 lead in the third set but then appeared to slow down. She became tentative.”
It is going to be so difficult for Ivanovic to defend the Roland Garros title. Right now I’m thinking that the main contenders have to be Kuznetsova and Safina? Maybe Azarenka or Dementieva? Although these days in the women’s game nothing is surprising and if a complete outsider won it wouldn’t be a huge shock.
When I mentioned those four players as contenders I meant to say other than Venus and Serena. Although Serena the way she’s been playing has given me some doubts.
Hi Bróna, it’s been a while since I saw you in the comments! 🙂 Yeah, it’s pretty improbable that Ivanovic will win Roland Garros this year too. I wouldn’t count on Jankovic either. Those you mentioned, especially Dinara and Svetlana, are the best contenders (if things don’t change in the meantime).
I know Marija, it has been a while! 🙂 It will be very interesting to see what happens in the lead-up to Roland Garros, and of course in Paris aswell. I think that Venus will win Rome but I think that Dinara should because it could help her to settle into being world number 1. I want Azarenka to win it though! It really could be anyone in Madrid. Personally I’d love to see Ana win Madrid because she has not won anything so far this year. I wonder if Sharapova will be back for Roland Garros. I still think that it’d be a miracle if she’s back in time for Wimbledon. Any news on Vera Zvonareva by the way?
Nothing new about Zvonareva’s state. The last piece of news was that her doctors declared that she would be out from two to twelve weeks. Almost two weeks have passed since then.
Besides a meltdown an injury easily could derail a player from a seemly victory. I shouldn’t have doubted that it was a meltdown after all is Ivanovic.
Azarenka seems to be consistent on the tour now a days. I’m thinking she will go deep at RG 09.
Maybe there is parity in the women’s game and the reason why there are a lot of upsets in tournaments.