Seed no.1 Ana Ivanovic had to play a qualifier in the first round, but eventually that qualifier was a tough one: Nicole Vaidisova!
The Czech was a former world no.7 and a 2 times slam semi-finalist that has mysteriously retired at 20 before “blossoming” to then marry and divorce Radek Stephanek. Nicole decided to come back to the tour (she is still 25-year-old) and she has managed to qualify for Monterrey before playing Ana.
Ivanovic beat Nicole 6-1 7-6 (4). The match was easy during the first 10 games as Ana was leading 6-1 3-0. Then Nicole did fight back to win 5 of the following 6 games to push the set at the tiebreak. Eventually Ana was more solid in the breaker to win it at 4.
Ivanovic: she was playing really well in the 2nd set
Ana commented “When I saw I was going to play against her I knew it would be a tough match because she’s a great player. She didn’t play for a while, and now she wants to play again, and in the second set she was playing really well and making some really good shots out there. I’m happy I won the tie-break because you never know what will happen in a third set.”
| ANA IN ACTION |
