Football
Associated Press 17y

Ivanovic sails past Petrova, expected to rise to 4th in WTA rankings

CARSON, Calif. -- A couple of childhood friends gave Serbia
one of its best sporting days Sunday.

Ana Ivanovic hit 31 winners, including 23 off her powerful
forehand, and beat Nadia Petrova 7-5, 6-4 to win the East West Bank
Classic.

Ivanovic completed a big day for the Eastern European country by
winning her second tournament of the year. Earlier, countryman
Novak Djokovic upset world No. 1 Roger Federer in three sets to win
the Rogers Cup title in Montreal.

"I saw some of his match," she said. "He played amazing
tennis, so I was motivated to do the same thing. That's an amazing
day for us."

Djokovic became the first player since Boris Becker in 1994 at
Stockholm to defeat the top three ranked players at an ATP event.
Besides Federer, he took out Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals and
Rafael Nadal in the semifinals.

"It's unbelievable for a small country without such big tennis
tradition," he said. "Everybody's wondering themselves how it
happened. Probably it's in our water or something. It's great to
see."

Ivanovic and Djokovic have been friends for about 14 years. They
met as 4-year-olds at his parents' mountaintop restaurant in
Belgrade. Growing up, they practiced together and played hide and
seek.

"I hated when I had to search for him because I was scared,"
she said. "We never dreamed we could play Grand Slams at the same
level. It's nice to know someone for so long. I love spending time
with him."

That includes sharing dinner when their tournament paths cross,
but there is no romance going on.

"We are really good friends, nothing more than that," she
said.

A year ago, Ivanovic was ranked 19th. On Monday, she is
projected to rise one spot to a career-high fourth in the WTA Tour
rankings. In between, the 19-year-old was runner-up at the French
Open and a semifinalist at Wimbledon this year.

"This is probably the best time of my career," she said.

Ivanovic closed out the 1½-hour match by serving a love game,
punctuated by an ace into the outside corner of the service box,
one of four she had. The third seed connected on 70 percent of her
first serves and was broken just once after saving four break
points in her first service game of the match.

She took the first set with a crosscourt forehand winner that
was out of Petrova's reach.

"It's very hard to be a set down," the fourth-seeded Petrova
said. "You have to start all over again."

Ivanovic led 4-2 in the second set before Petrova's forehand
volley winner left the Russian trailing 5-4. Petrova hit 19 winners
in the match, which were offset by 22 unforced errors.

Ivanovic dropped one set in five matches in Carson, against Serb
rival Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals. She earned $88,260 for the
victory.

Petrova's coach had advised the 25-year-old Russian to pull
Ivanovic wide by hitting to her backhand, making it harder for the
Serb to hit her forehand on the run.

It didn't work.

"She just rips it off without even thinking," Petrova said.
"Sometimes I think she didn't even know where it was going. It's
the best forehand by far on tour."

Petrova advanced to the final when top-seeded Maria Sharapova
defaulted because of a lower left leg strain Saturday night.
Petrova, ranked ninth in the world, hasn't won a title since
February.

Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan and retired Los Angeles
Kings star Luc Robitaille were among the fans at Home Depot Center.

^ Back to Top ^