MIAMI, Florida—Dinara Safina and Ana Ivanovic joined the list of Sunday’s casualties this afternoon at the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida.
Twelve hours after third seed Jelena Jankovic bowed her exit, Safina and Ivanovic were upset in the third round of play.
Safina, the second seed and the player most likely to rob Serena Williams of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour number one ranking, was defeated in straight sets by Australia’s Samantha Stosur 6-1, 6-4 on Court 1.
“It was just a disaster match,” Safina said afterward. “It was sad the way I played today.” It was the biggest win of Stosur’s career and her first Top 10 victory since returning from an illness-induced layoff.
“Since I came back I haven’t been able to get a Top 10 win. I came close a few times,” Stosur said. “Today I got over the line, and [I am] just really pleased. I thought I could do it and I knew I could. It was just a matter of when it was going to happen. Today, I played well and really did exactly what I needed to do. So it’s a great feeling to beat a Top 10 player again.”
Next door on Court 2 and seconds after Safina lost, seventh seed Ana Ivanovic was ousted by Agnes Szavay 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
After reaching the final at last week’s BNP Paribas Open, Ivanovic was confident about her game, but it all fell apart today against Szavay.
“I’m really disappointed with today’s game,” Ivanovic said. “I hardly did anything well today.”
She credited her loss not to lack of preparation after Indian Wells, but her struggling mental game.
“I came here on Monday, had the day off, and then practiced a couple days. I think I had enough time to prepare,” Ivanovic added. “It’s just that today I felt I was struggling a lot mentally.”
It was a momentous win for Szavay, who is coming off several months of poor results.
“It’s a very good feeling,” Szavay said. “I’m really happy that I came out from this position, because I was playing really bad. I played like two months in a row like every week just to have some matches and matches, because I didn’t want to lose first round everywhere.”
Next for Szavay is a fourth round match against Victoria Azarenka, one of the best young players on the Tour.
“I’m playing Azarenka tomorrow, and she’s really in a good shape,” Szavay added. “She just went to the Top 10, so she’s obviously playing very good now. I’ll just try to do my best, what I can, we will see if it’s enough or not.”
On the Baseline’s live coverage of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open is brought to you by Grand Slam Tennis Tours.
I am not totally surprised by Ivanovic. Last year she won IW and then went out in the third rd in Miami. Some people cannot do the double big tournaments. But she should be able to get beyond the 3rd rd. Safina-she did better last year. This the second (or is it third-first at AO) that Safina would have been able to take the no. 1 ranking from Serena. Is this a mental problem involving pressure? Or is it just a let down in her game. The clay season is next where her success began last year. Let’s hope that she gets things figured out by then to provide competition in the women’s game.
Seeds keep loosing in Miami, Jankovic was joined by Ivanovic, Safina, Zvonareva, Cornet, Cibulkova, Petrova, Penneta, Vaidisova … on their way out. But the remaining seeds shine even more, especially those not mentioned too often – after reaching the quaterfinals last week in Indian Wells Agnieszka Radwanska is again in the fourth round of tournament! As is her good friend and foe, Karolina Wozniacki, and Victoria Azarenka. So maybe tomorrow I will get a glimse of my favorite on TV, since she is playing Venus for the place in the quaters! Go Aga!
What a topsy turvy day in Miami! No one can rest on their past games and skill…have to press forward and win the race that is before them that day.
Enjoy the coverage; have fun and be safe.
Thanks!
A good article about the state of the women’s game is at http://www.tennis.com by Ed McGrogan. Called “March Madness”. It talks about the possible beginning of parity if the seeds keep falling.