Serbian cutie pie, Ana Ivanovic plays a return stroke during her women’s singles match against Alisa Kleybanova of Russia at the 2009 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 23, 2009. Ivanovic made it into the 3rd round with an easy straight-sets win over 169th ranked Alberta Brianti of Italy, 6-3, 6-2. Ivanovic had a straight-sets win in the first round over Julia Georges 7-5, 6-3.
Ivanovic struggled in her first two matches, especially with her serve toss. She had several dozen tosses that she just let drop because they were so far off, usually way inside.
The struggle for Ivanovic was ended by a defeat in the 3rd round by No. 31 ranked Alisa Kleybanova of Russia, 5-7, 7-5 (7-5), 2-6. It looked like Ivanovic was coming back after she won the 2nd set tie-break. But she was not able to keep it up, and Kleybanova took over in the third set. Thus continued Ivanovic’s early exits from tournaments. Her 2008 2nd half let-down seems to still be with her.
It looks like it is back to the drawing board for Ivanovic. She has some work to do if she is going to begin climbing back up toward No. 1.
