Top
Fed Cup Billie Jean King Cup
Tennis News

Coin flips top seed Ivanovic out of Open


Ana Ivanovic, world No.1 and the US Open top seed, has crashed out of the tournament at the hands of Julie Coin, a first-time Grand Slam qualifier, 6-3 4-6 6-3.

Ana Ivanovic defeat to the world No.188 marks the earliest exit by a top seed at the US Open since the Open era began in 1968.

Ana Ivanovic, who entered the tournament after recovering from a thumb injury that kept her from competing in the US Open Series and traveling to the Beijing Olympics, admitted that she felt nervous facing an opponent she had never seen play.

“I don’t realise yet that I beat the No.1 in the world” – Julie Coin

I thought I can slowly get into the match, and she played completely different than I expected,” Ivanovic said. She was serving extremely well and hitting very powerful shots.

While Coin played aggressively for most of the match, her cause was helped greatly by Ivanovic’s erratic performance. In the first set, Ivanovic double faulted eight times and hit 12 unforced errors, but only six winners.

As at Wimbledon earlier this summer, the world No.1 could not raise her game when it mattered. There she lost in the third round to the world No.133 Zheng Zie, and in August lost in similar circumstances to No.94 Tamira Paszek.

“I’ve had a tough couple of months, with the [thumb injury], but hopefully I can put it behind me and take something positive,’‘ she said.

Check out our action shots from day 4 of the US Open by clicking here

For Coin, who had been thinking of making this her last year on tour but is now reconsidering, the result is not only the biggest win of her career but also her biggest payday.

Whatever the result of her match against compatriot Amelie Mauresmo in the third round, she is guaranteed to make at least $46,000, $10,000 more than she has made all season. Her career earnings since 1999 total $99,563.

“I don’t realise yet that I beat Ana Ivanovic, I don’t realise that I played at the big court,” Coin said afterwards. I don’t know how I’m going sleep tonight. I don’t know when I will realize everything. Maybe at the end the tournament when I’m going to be done with it. I don’t know.

Mauresmo, the No.32 seed in New York, beat Kaia Kanepi 2-6 6-4 6-0. “It will be like playing a No.1 because she used to be No.1,” Coin said of Mauresmo.

Elsewhere, Venus and Serena Williams both made quick progress. Venus – twice champion at Flushing Meadows – beat Rossana De Los Rios 6-0 6-3, although she squandered four match points on serve before finishing the job.

“I think I just had a lot more power than she did,” said Venus, who is scheduled to meet her sister in the quarter-finals this time round. First she faces Alona Bondarenko after the No.27 seed beat Sabine Lisicki 6-4 1-6 6-4.

See what our man in New York made of the day’s play by clicking here

Serena thrashed Elena Vesnina 6-1 6-1 to kick off the night session at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Sixth seed Dinara Safina had to work hard to beat Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-3 to reach the third round. The Russian has won 17 of her last 18 matches but struggled for consistency against the world No.164 before eventually prevailing.

“I think it still could be better, especially I was 4-1 up in the first set and then I let it go to 4-4,” said Safina, who now faces Timea Bacsinszky. “I think there is much more room that I can play better.”

There were also wins for seeds Agnieszka Radwanska, Flavia Pennetta, and Alize Cornet. But No.13 seed Agnes Szavay and No.20 seed Nicole Vaidisova are both out.

Szavay lost 5-7 6-2 6-3 to Tathiana Garbin while Vaidisova collapsed to a 7-5 6-3 defeat against Severine Bremond.


By
0

Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.