Just when Ana Ivanovic insisted it is time for tennis to be fun and rewarding for her again, the former world No 1 suffered the most agonizing of set-backs as she was pitched out of the Australian Open in only the second round.
Optimism was supposedly the order of the day for the photogenic Serb who looked a world beater just 18 months ago by winning the French Open. Not only has she recently found love with Australian golfer Adam Scott but she maintains her repeated injury problems are a thing of the past, and with renewed fitness she stressed a determination to return to women’s tennis elite.
However Gisela Dulko, Argentine and equally suited to monopolizing the photographers’ attention, has developed a reputation for ruining the comebacks of those tennis stars who are perfectly at home on the front page of a glossy magazine. Last year at Wimbledon she sent Maria Sharapova home in the second round and the story was the same for Ivanovic as the 2008 Australian Open finalist suffered her earliest exit at the tournament in six attempts.
Dulko required six match points to finish the job as tension pervaded after the unseeded player from Buenos Aires had allowed a double break of serve in the concluding set before finally rounding out her victory 6-7, 7-5, 6-4.
Ivanovic looked capable of playing her way back into contention as she served to level the score at five-all but she double-faulted twice to allow her 36th-ranked opponent through after two hours and 42 minutes of error-strewn tennis.
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Dulko is hardly a hugely successful player at the year’s opening grand slam. In six previous campaigns at Melbourne Park she had never previously gone beyond the second round and ninth seeded Vera Zvonareva now lies in wait to ensure that record does not improve this year.
Things had been going well: Ivanovic insisted she had enjoyed a good break from her sport after taking five weeks off, maintained her preparation had been rewarding and sufficient to stoke the optimism, and lead-up results had been favourable with a semi-final finish in Brisbane.
However, the basis of Ivanovic’s problems still seemed her serve, and most of all the most inconsistent and unpredictable of ball tosses. In all, 11 double faults came off the Serbian racket and she was successful on just 38 per cent of her second serves.
“It was one of the problems, for sure,” she said. “There are things I’m working on. The serve is a big part of that progress. I feel it’s been going well at times, but it’s just not consistent like I would like it to be. It just might take some time, and I have to accept that, although it’s hard.”
However there were no tears that marked Ivanovic’s enforced retirement from Wimbledon because of injury or her first round demise at the US Open. As she headed back to the practice courts, she valiantly tried to take some positives from another disappointing grand slam showing. “I do feel better on the court. I’m playing much better. I feel like my old self,” she said.
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“There are still some areas that are not there for me to rely on when ? I need them the most. Some matches it’s there, some not. I just have to sort of keep my head up and try to improve.”
Ivanovic’s compatriot Novak Djokovic survived an early scare in his attempt to replicate his 2008 title triumph at this event. The men’s third seed looked out of sorts as he alarmingly dropped the first set to unheralded Swiss Marco Chiudinelli. But after Djokovic loudly berated himself, things changed and he charged through 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 before admitting: “I was frustrated, especially at start of the match, because he was really giving it to me.
“Things didn’t stay that bad but there are some things that I obviously have to improve in order play better. But, you know, the opening rounds, especially at the Australian Open, are where a lot of surprises happen.”
In-form Nikolay Davydenko maintained the impressive run that had seen him win last December’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals title and the year-opening tournament in Doha with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 victory over Ukrainian qualifier Illya Marchenko. #
There were no other big shocks in the women’s singles as fourth seeded Caroline Wozniacki scored a comfortable 6-3 6-1 victory over Germany’s Julia Georges while seventh seeded Victoria Azarenka accelerated into total control against Swiss Stefanie Voegele, winning 6-4 6-0.