WTA Cincinnati - Ivanovic shocks Azarenka

Ana Ivanovic pulled of a superb comeback from 6-2 5-3 down to defeat the number 10 seed and Stanford champion, Victoria Azarenka in the 1st round of Cincinnati. This result will come as a surprise to many however there have been signs over recent months that Ivanovic has been playing better. The problem she faces is that she is unseeded following a hugely disappointing 2009 so she is likely to face much higher ranked opposition making it much harder to string consecutive wins together; for example at Wimbledon and San Diego she drew Shahar Peer in the first round, a very solid top 15 player. Ivanovic looked solid against Peer in San Diego losing her serve just once, however as she stated in her post-match interview she's struggling to win the crucial points that decide matches. This time however, Ana won the big points and came through 2-6 7-6 6-2 against Azarenka who once again reminded us of her mental fragility. Ivanovic will now face Yaroslava Shvedova and must take advantage of this opportunity to get some points in the bag. She should get to the QF where she could meet Jelena Jankovic in an all serbian clash.

In other news, both Aravane Rezai and Nadia Petrova suffered disappointing exits. Both players have now suffered consecutive 1st round losses as they both struggle for form on the hard courts. Rezai is an exceptionally talented player who was fantastic on the clay however she possesses an attacking game that when its on, she can beat anyone as demonstrated by her defeats of Jankovic and Venus Williams in Madrid. However when her radar is off, Rezai's game disintegrates and a loss here to the young Serbian, Bojana Jovanovski was extremely disappointing. It was also important to note the return from injury of Sabine Lisicki who was defeated by Monica Niculescu 6-3 6-0. Considering this was her first match in many months, this result won't be too much of a worry however once she gets some match fitness, Sabine will want to push back up towards the top 30. If she can improve her consistency and stay injury free, she will be a name to look out for in future years.