A huge sigh of relief
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ByEurosport
Published 21/10/2004 at 14:20 GMT
Wimbledon junior finalist Ana Ivanovic caused former world number one Venus Williams a few nerous moments in the second round of the Zurich Challenge of Thursday. The Serbian, more used to the sateillite circuit, lost out to the 24-year-old American 7-6 (
Eurosport
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Williams broke early in the first set and seemed on course for a routine victory but world number 156 Ivanovic thrilled the Swiss crowd by storming back to force a tiebreak.
Ivanovic had five set points before Williams clinched the tiebreak 13-11.
The young Serb, who has won all five of the ITF tournaments in which she has competed this season, maintained her form in the second set to cause the four-times major singles champion just as much trouble.
After trading service breaks Ivanovic again found herself with three set points, wasting one golden opportunity when she netted an attempted winner with the court at her mercy.
Williams finally sealed victory in one hour 48 minutes.
DEMENTIEVA STUTTERS
In the day's second match, third seed Elena Dementieva, the two-time major finalist, produced a patchy performance against Russian compatriot Elena Bovina.
Both players dropped serve five times in the opening two sets before Dementieva finally found her rhythm to romp past Bovina in the deciding set for a 7-5 3-6 6-0 victory.
"I knew of course that there would be a lot of all-Russian matches this year, because all of us are playing so well," Dementieva said.
"But for me, it's not about the nationality of my opponent. I've always said I want to be number one in the world, not number one in Russia - so if I need to beat other Russians to reach that goal, that's what I'll do."
In other second round results, Emilie Loit of France quit her second round match with Argentine Paola Suarez, trailing 6-1 2-2, while tenth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland beat Columbian Fabiola Zuluaga 6-4 6-3.
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