NEW YORK (AP)—Former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic is back in the fourth round of the U.S. Open for the first time since 2007, and she’ll take on defending champion Kim Clijsters next.
Serbia’s Ivanovic easily eliminated 157th-ranked wild card Virginie Razzano of France 7-5, 6-0 in the third round at Flushing Meadows on Friday.
Ivanovic briefly sat atop the WTA rankings in 2008 after winning that year’s French Open, one of three Grand Slam finals she’s reached. But injuries and inconsistent play dropped her all the way to 65th in July, and she is currently 40th.
The U.S. Open is the only major tournament at which Ivanovic never has played in the quarterfinals. To change that, she’ll need to get past the No. 2-seeded Clijsters, a 6-3, 6-0 winner over No. 27 Petra Kvitova.