Ivanovic Bounced From U.S. Open

BIG WIN: Ukranian Kateryna Bondarenko ousted Serbia's Ana Ivanovic in a tough first round match at the U.S. Open Tuesday night. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic suffered a tough first round defeat by Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 2–6, 6–3, 7–6 at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Tuesday night.

Bondarenko gave the 11th-ranked Ivanovic a match to remember after losing the first set. She took the second set and forced a tiebreak in the final set. The third set was as much a match of physical endurance as it was wills. It took 74 minutes to complete.

Ivanovic failed to capitalize on several opportunities in the tiebreak and ended the match with 50 unforced errors to Bondarenko’s 42, despite surpassing her in aces, winners, and total points won.

Tuesday night’s upset will go down as the earliest grand slam singles loss for Ivanovic since her 2005 debut at the Australian Open where she lost in the third round.

Ivanovic has failed to make a solid return to her 2008 glory days at Roland Garros, after being plagued by injury. She suffered an emotional loss to Serena Williams in this year’s Wimbledon fourth round with a hip injury.

Sharapova Shines

Maria Sharapova opened her U.S. Open title bid at Flushing Meadows with a crushing win over Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets 6–3, 6–0.

The former world No. 1 looked like her pre-injury self at Arthur Ashe stadium. She still committed 22 unforced errors to Pironkova’s 11 and had only one ace for the night but had a dominating 29 winners compared to Pironkova’s six.

Sharapova’s struggle with a shoulder injury in 2007 caused her to miss several tournaments and resulted in a complete withdrawal from tennis in 2008.

But in May, Sharapavo returned to tennis and has been making a bit of a comeback. She reached the quarterfinals at the French Open and the final at the Canadian Open in Toronto.

The fashion star didn’t seem to be flustered by her return to center stage at Arthur Ashe stadium, and certainly didn’t hesitate to set the tone of her arrival.

“This is a Grand Slam,” Sharapova said. “You’ve got to get going from the first match. After being gone, this is what it’s all about.”

Safina Avoids Upset

The 29th-seeded Sharapova had a much stronger performance than compatriot and top-seeded Darina Safina. Safina barely made it out alive in a two hour, 35 minute first round seesaw match against 18-year-old Australian Olivia Rogowska earlier in the day.  

Safina won the match 6–7, 6–2, 6–4. She barely escaped becoming the first No. 1 seeded woman to lose a grand slam in the first round.
With 48 unforced errors and 11 double faults the 23-year-old was so shaky that even her rookie opponent was confused.

“I was surprised that, you know, she was giving me free points,” said Rogowska following the match.

But despite the clumsy play that generated frequent head shaking from her coach Zeljko Krajan watching from the stands, Safina pulled herself together in the deciding set after falling behind 3–0, 15–40 to come back strong and end the match with a bludgeoning forehand.

“There are moments like these that you have to dig in there and swallow everything and just fight,” Safina said in an emotional interview after the match. “I would never give up.”

“The positive is it cannot get worse. From now on it can be only better,” she said, having made it through the match without breaking her racket in frustration.

Indeed, Safina will be looking for her performance to get much better in her second round match against Germany’s Kristina Barrois on Thursday.