Ivanovic masters emotions to win

INDIAN WELLS (California)—Serbian Ana Ivanovic said increased mental toughness has been one of the keys to her rise to number two in the WTA world rankings, and she needed it here on Saturday. Ivanovic mastered her emotions to post a 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 victory over Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru in the second round of the 5.7 million-dollar Pacific Life Open - which does double duty as an ATP Masters Series tournament and a prestigious WTA tier one event.
Ivanovic appeared to be on her way to an easy victory against 77th-ranked Olaru, winning the opening set in 27 minutes. But the 20-year-old Serb, who was runner-up to Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open in January, ran into trouble in the second set. After going up a break, she surrendered the advantage and ended up dropping the set, which took 61 minutes to play. Ivanovic rebounded, however, and made short work of the third set to wrap up the victory in 1hr 55min.
“I was very upset and very emotional in the second set and in the third set I just did what I should have done, you know, from the beginning,” Ivanovic said. “Just being aggressive and staying low and moving around the ball.” Ivanovic, who became the first Serbian to reach a Grand Slam final when she finished runner-up to world number one Justine Henin at the French Open last year, said her ability to regroup was a key improvement in her game.
“I think so,” she said. “And especially second half of 2007 and now beginning of 2008, I feel that’s the area where I improved the most. “Obviously that gives me a lot of confidence and something that I know I can fall back on.” Ivanovic admitted she was still adjusting to life as one of the game’s top-ranked players.
“Now I feel that a lot of players are motivated to play against me much more than before,” she said. “They go out there and they have nothing to lose. They go for their shots, and many times they play good matches.
“Obviously there comes more pressure, but it’s just important to recognize the pressure, and see it for what it is. “Most of the time it’s just reflection of your own ambition and what you want to achieve. “I’m working hard on that, to handle that kind of pressure, and I just want to enjoy each match I play,” she said.
Ivanovic’s first WTA outing as a top seed ended disappointingly when she withdrew after just one match with a sprained ankle at Doha in February. The injury forced her to skip the Dubai Open and Ivanovic said she was feeling the lack of matches on Saturday when she opened her campaign after a first-round bye. “Obviously I haven’t played so many matches lately, so I was really looking forward to getting into the tournament slowly,” said Ivanovic, who next faces Italian Tathiana Garbin, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over US wild card Vania King. Rafael Nadal launched his defense of the Indian Wells ATP Masters Series title with a victory Saturday while last year’s runner-up, Novak Djokovic, also made a triumphant debut.—Agencies