Ivanovic Fires Warning To Dubai Rivals
DUBAI, UAE – Ana Ivanovic fired a warning shot to the rest the draw at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday, dismantling Daria Gavrilova in under an hour.
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After a difficult start to the year, Ivanovic showed signs of recovery during a run to the semifinals in St. Petersburg, and carried on from where she left off against Gavrilova.
Ivanovic utilized the fast conditions to devastating effect, 19 winners (offset by just 16 unforced errors) helping her to a 6-1, 6-0 victory.
In their previous meeting, last year in Rome, Gavrilova had prevailed in a rollercoaster, but it was clear early on that the rematch would be rather more brief.
A string of unforced errors, culminating in a double fault, saw Gavrilova surrender serve in the second game. While she broke back immediately, the Australian was powerless in the face of Ivanovic’s onslaught.
The former World No.1 struck early in the second set, too, a couple of sweetly timed backhands bringing a break in the first game. With the forehand, usually the barometer for the Serb’s game, also firing on all cylinders, from here a comeback never looked on the cards.
“We played once before and it was a battle on clay, so I knew it was a tough match and I had to step up because I knew she’s a great mover and she strikes the ball really well,” Ivanovic said.
“Here the ball flies a little bit, so I tried to use that to my advantage and move forward a little bit. And I did that very well and was very aggressive on my returns, so overall I’m very happy.”
Her reward is a meeting with defending champion and top seed Simona Halep, an opponent Ivanovic is excited to pit her improving game against.
“Yeah, definitely. You want to play against the best and challenge yourself. We’ve had battles in the past but it’s going to be a tough one.”
Other winners in the afternoon session were Elina Svitolina and Barbora Strycova. In her first match since announcing the addition to Justine Henin to her coaching team, Svitolina was in fine form during a 6-3, 6-1 victory over qualifier Jana Cepelova. The Ukrainian faces No.2 seed Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round.
Strycova was pushed slightly harder, eventually seeing off Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-4, 6-3, to set up a clash with Julia Goerges.
