Favorites Justine Henin of Belgium and Ana Ivanovic of Serbia both became victims of the 2nd round exit-disease, leaving fans to wonder why? What happened? How could that be?
Ivanovic lost to 19 year-old Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, while Henin fell victim to Gisela Dulko of Argentina in a see-saw battle 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.
Ivanovic continues to disappoint her fans as well as herself. I’m beginning to wonder if she has lost her will to win. In a post-match interview when asked “Do you think you lost your confidence because you’re not winning, or is it a combination of you’re just not playing as well as you would like to?” Ivanovic said: “I think at first it came because I just didn’t have enough practice, and I sort of felt like it was lots of little bits and piece was injuries. It was kind of Catch-22, so I didn’t feel confident enough to play and still — or like ready enough to play. And then I would play and then I lost, and so then obviously confidence goes. So it kind of was on a roll.”
Henin arrived in Indian Wells as a title favorite, but her serve caused Dulko few problems, her usually awesome backhand was unable to regularly penetrate Dulko’s steady game, and she could find no part of her all-around game that was better than what was displayed by Dulko. Dulko broke Henin’s serve three times in the third set, converting every break point she had, before closing out the 3rd set for the match, derailing Henin’s streak of three consecutive finals appearances since she cam out of retirement in January.
In spite of her loss, Henin will be eligible for WTA rankings and is expected to be in the top-35. Ivanovic is ranked No. 28 and continues a downward slide in the rankings in spite of hiring a new coach, Heinz Gunthardt.
