Ivanovic demolishes Sharapova to reach final
PARIS: Serbian teenager Ana Ivanovic demolished the brittle and error-plagued challenge of Russian golden girl Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-1 yesterday to reach the French Open final.
The 19-year-old, who will be playing in her first Grand Slam final, will face defending champion Justine Henin or compatriot Jelena Jankovic for the title on Saturday.
"I played a great match and didn't miss much," said Ivanovic.
"I was expecting a tough match but I took my opportunities. I knew I had to be aggressive because if you give her chances she will take them."
Serbia's Ana Ivanovic reacts after defeating Russia's Maria Sharapova in a semifinal match at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros yesterday. Reuters |
Second seed Sharapova, bidding to reach her first French Open final, suffered a nightmare afternoon on a muggy Court Philippe Chatrier as a catalogue of mistakes helped clear Ivanovic's path to the final.
The seventh-seeded Serbian, who had never previously got beyond the quarterfinals, came into Roland Garros buoyed by her title on the Berlin clay last month.
She had also seen off Sharapova's fellow Russian, and third seed, Svetlana Kuztensova in the quarterfinals.
Ivanovic broke the first Sharapova service game with a scintillating forehand winner and was soon 5-1 ahead when the Russian served up her third double fault of the opener.
Sharapova rallied to break back to 2-5 with her opponent serving for the set but it was a brief respite from the onslaught as Ivanovic once again dismantled the Russian's serve in the eighth game to claim the first set courtesy of a fourth double fault.
The first set statistics made grim reading for the former world number one and reigning US Open champion with 16 unforced errors, twice as many as the tidy Serbian teenager.
Ivanovic served a love game to take the first game of the second set and then played the best game of the contest with her all-out attack exposing Sharapova's claycourt uncertainty as she broke to go 2-0.
Sharapova's game, which has never adapted comfortably to clay, continued to unravel and a fifth double fault gave Ivanovic a break point in the fourth game which was secured when her opponent dumped another forehand into the net.
There was to be no way back for Sharapova.
Ivanovic served another love game to lead 5-0 and despite Sharapova getting on the scoreboard in the next game, the 19-year-old served out the tie with an ace after just 65 minutes on court to become the first Serbian since former triple champion Monica Seles in 1992 to reach the Roland Garros final.
AFP
(China Daily 06/08/2007 page24)
