Ana Ivanovic stared at the baseline as if it were a fault line, conspiring to contribute to the growing cracks in her competitive psyche. The 2008 French Open champion played imposing tennis in sweeping seven straight games today against Johanna Larsson, only to see the 64th-ranked Swede storm back to shatter Ivanovic’s hopes as thoroughly as a wave washing over a sand castle. Clad in black, Larsson pulled the plug on Ivanovic’s power game, winning six of the final seven games to shock the 20th-seeded Serb, 7-6 (3), 0-6, 6-2.
It was just the second Grand Slam match win for Larsson. Ivanovic has now gone 11 consecutive majors since her last quarterfinal appearance, that coming in 2008 when she surrendered one set in seven matches. Lately, however, the first round has become the final round for the former world No. 1, who suffered her fourth opening-round exit in her last seven Grand Slam showings.
Ivanovic opened the match with a second-serve ace and was firing her flat forehand with authority, winning 14 of 16 points played on her first serve in the first set. She earned four set points—a pair at 5-4 and a couple more at 6-5—but Larsson, who entered this encounter with a 1-8 career record vs. Top 30 opponents, stood her ground, maintained her nerve and mixed her shots masterfully on pivotal points.
Larsson, who accidentally flushed her cell phone down the toilet two weeks ago and last week left another in a Paris taxi, was dialed in when it mattered most. After saving all four set points, she hit a backhand pass up the line, an inside-out forehand winner and a slice ace out wide to go up 3-0 in the tie break, eventually extending her lead to 6-1. A Larsson forehand winner up the line eluded a sliding Ivanovic, giving the Swede an opening set devoid of a break.
It was a schizophrenic match for Ivanovic, who can degenerate from explosive to erratic in the span of a few shots. This is in part because her serve can stray and her biggest weapon—her forehand—is struck so flat. If her timing is slightly off, she gets a bad bounce or doesn’t finish the shot fully, she can misfire.
The two-time French Open finalist found her range in streaking through the second set in 25 minutes and building a 1-0 lead in the third. Then came the turning point, in the fourth game of the decider. Serving at 15-30, Ivanovic whiffed on a Larsson drive that banged off the baseline and bounced over her Yonex racquet. Ivanovic stared down at the baseline for a second and tried to shrug off the shot, but could not shake its ramifications as Larsson broke for 3-1. She never looked back in wrapping up a win that warrants a call home—if she can find her latest cell phone.
—Richard Pagliaro