China Open, Beijing

Women’s Semifinal: [CR4] Maria Sharapova (RUS) vs. [CR9] Ana Ivanovic (SRB)

Ivanovic could not find her game the entire first set against Sharapova, it completely disappeared; her serve was absent, forehand and backhand shots were flying long and even easy volleys landed in the net.  It looked to continue in the second set when she dropped serve her first game; however, some erratic play by Sharapova would allow her to immediately break back and even the score in the second.

Ivanovic’s struggles with her serve continued; it was not a question of if she was going to be broken, but rather how many times. It was one of those days when nothing went right for Ivanovic and the anguish was apparent on her face with each errant shot.  She was not confident with any area of her game and that may have caused her to be distracted today, costing her the match because she could not take advantage of the opportunities Sharapova gave her.

Tennis demands that you are fully focused; to be less than will cause you to lose more matches than you should.  Though Ivanovic competed better in the second set, it was not enough and Sharapova would win 6-0, 6-4, despite some difficulties with her own serve and forehand in the last game.