A win almost unbelievable. The duel between two former world No. 1 had a resounding turnaround, when it seemed it was for Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, finally ended in the hands of the Belgian Kim Clijsters, who advanced to the quarterfinals and end the traditional tournament in Miami.
A win almost unbelievable. The duel between two former world No. 1 had a resounding turnaround, when it seemed it was for Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, finally ended in the hands of the Belgian Kim Clijsters, who advanced thus the traditional quarter-finals of the tournament in Miami.
Clijsters, currently second in the WTA rankings, lost 5-1 in the third set, with Ivanovic, raised five match-points and finished imposed by 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 7-6 (7 - 5).
In a long match that lasted two hours and 17 minutes, the mother Clijsters, who won last January in Australia Open, won a great recovery thanks to his mental strength. And across the street was Ivanovic (19 th head standard) which suffered from doubts and ended up very sad.
Clijsters, the defending champion, committed 11 double faults, compared to seven of Serbia, and ended up getting a win that set the total points earned less than Ivanovic (129 against 132).
In addition, the Belgian broke one less service to the Serbia (four and five, respectively) in a match that just hit an ace and the loser had five.
Clijsters, winner of this tournament in 2005 and 2010, had the serve at 1-5 and 40-40, when it began to rebound. Ivanovic said she had problems with his racket. "You should see my racket," said French Open champion in 2008, making an effort to smile.
"As I broke my racket and then as I cried a little and then I got well," he said later, disappointed.
Thus, Ivanovic continues to suffer a marked lack of confidence. This clash was crucial to have won and resumed winning ways. But the fall, in contrast, will mean a blow hard.
Clijsters won and the pending second round clash on Monday night and was the last player to reach the quarter-finals, where his opponent Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, seeded eighth.
Meanwhile, Germany's Andrea Petkovic (21 second favorite) confirmed its high level of the previous day, when eliminated in three sets to Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, the No. 1 and recent world champion at Indian Wells.
Petkovic won his second consecutive victory against a top-ten, beating Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, No. 7-ranked and sixth-seeded with a score of 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Thus, Petkovic became the first semifinalist at the hard courts of Crandon Park Key Biscayne, in the event that distributes $ 4,500,000 in prizes.
Petkovic, 23, has only a title career and this is his third appearance in Miami, where he had never passed the third round.
As I walked past Wozniacki, Germanic also got his first win in his first match against Jankovic.
The rival is semi Petkovic Maria Sharapova (16 second favorite), who recovered to beat Romania's Alexandra Dulgheru (26 meetings) 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) and 7-6 (7-5 .) It was a marathon match that lasted three and half hours of play.