Another early exit for Ivanovic

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 13:02

The Serbian has failed to get past the fourth round in seven majors since her Roland Garros triumph and on Thursday fell to the 36th-ranked Gisela Dulko 6-7 (6/8) 7-5 6-4.

However, defending champion Serena Williams and her sister, Venus, both had comfortable straight-sets wins on the Hisense Arena.

Serena took just over an hour to brush aside the challenge of unseeded 19-year-old Petra Kvitova 6-2 6-1 and will next play 32nd seed Carla Suarez Navarro, who beat Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 6-1 6-4.

Sixth seed Venus, who is chasing her first Australian Open title at the age of 29, claimed her second consecutive straight-sets success as she was similarly untroubled by Sybille Bammer, winning 6-2 7-5.

Fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki played for the second consecutive day but showed no ill-effects with a trouble-free 6-3 6-1 win over Germany’s Julia Goerges.

Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka overcame Stefanie Voegele 6-4 6-0, while Vera Zvonareva will meet Ivanovic’s conqueror Dulko in the third round after the ninth seed defeated Iveta Benesova 6-0 6-3.

Agnieszka Radwanska, the 10th seed, and 17th seed Francesca Schiavone both had straight-sets wins and will now meet in the last 32.

Australia’s top hope Samantha Stosur (13) will avoid a seed in the next round after the Queenslander beat Kristina Barrois 7-5 6-3. Italian Alberta Brianti awaits after she upset Sabine Lisicki, the 21st seed, 2-6 6-4 6-4.

Other seeded players to progress were China’s Na Li (16), Daniela Hantuchova (22) and Shahar Peer (29).

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