No fairytales today as Ivanovic and Oudin depart
Originally published on: 26/02/10 11:37
There was heartbreak for Ana Ivanovic on the second Monday of the Championships, who left Court No.1 in tears after injuring her thigh against Venus Williams.
In truth, the defending champion was comfortably in control of the fourth round match after taking the first set 6-1, but she took no pleasure from advancing to the quarter-finals in such a manner, offering Ivanovic a conciliatory kiss on the cheek as they met at the net with the Serb 1-0 up in the second.
The former French Open champion’s devastation is understandable, given her catastrophic luck with injuries since lifting her only Grand Slam title just over a year ago.
Inkuries to her thumb and foot ravaged the following summer and battered her confidence – something she had admitted she felt was returning just last week following her third round victory over Sam Stosur.
Ivanovic, who has been playing with golfer Adam Scott in her player’s box, will now await an assessment from the tournament doctor before gauging just what she is up against ahead of the upcoming American hard court season.
“Over past few days I felt muscle tightness, but that was, you know, normal after playing so much on the grass,” she said afterwards. “Just when I was serving 30-40 down in that first game, after my first serve I just felt a sharp pain on my inner thigh and I couldn’t step on my leg.”
“Obviously it’s very disappointing,” she added, holding back more tears. “You know, especially that I felt my form was getting better and better. So, yeah, it’s really frustrating.”
Elsewhere, the harsh realities of Grand Slam tennis finally caught up with Melanie Oudin at the start of the second week as the American qualifier fell to Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 7-5.
Until Saturday, perhaps the biggest shock of this year’s Wimbledon had been the lack of rain, but during the fledgling moments of this week’s expected heatwave the 17-year-old upset a flagging Jelena Jankovic in three sets.
The former world No.1 was less than gracious in defeat, bizarrely dismissing Oudin as a player that “cannot hurt you with anything.” But it was the American who progressed to the second week, and produced a spirited display against the highly rated Polish 20-year-old.
For a brief period it looked as if Oudin’s Cinderella run was set to continue when she jumped to a 3-1 lead, but Radwanska proved a different prospect for the American, who couldn’t reproduce the virtually flawless performance she had managed against Jankovic.
Radwanska broke back in game six and again in the final game of the set. The second followed a similar pattern early on as Oudin broke only to be broken once more, but Radwanska won the last eight points of the match in games eleven and twelve to seal the match.
The Pole goes on to face Williams in the quarter-finals.
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