Ivanovic marches to final four
2008-06-03 15:42
Paris - Ana Ivanovic of Serbia moved within one match of her third Grand Slam final by defeating Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder 6-3 6-2 in the French Open quarter-finals on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old second seed lost to Justine Henin in straight sets in the final here last year and to Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final in January.
Playing in damp, overcast conditions, Ivanovic broke early to lead 2-0, but the 29-year-old 10th seed, playing in her 48th Grand Slam tournament and 13th straight at Roland Garros, hit back to level at 2-2.
Ivanovic was clearly the more powerful of the two with Schnyder looking to counter by moving the bigger woman around with her looping cross-court groundstrokes.
The Belgrade beauty took the first set 6-3 and she immediately broke to love in the opening game of the second, a deft drop shot winner doing the damage on break point.
Schnyder had three break points on the Ivanovic serve in the following game, but the Serb had her back-pedalling frantically as she battled back to hold on for a 2-0 lead.
The Swiss player survived a marathon game on her following serve but two games later two poorly-executed drop shots allowed Ivanovic to nail the double break.
At 4-1 up and her own serve to come there was no stopping her although she needed three match points to finish it off as the rain started to fall.
Following Monday's defeat of top seed Maria Sharapova, Ivanovic is assured of taking the world No 1 spot for the first time if she lifts the title here on Saturday.
The second seed will play either fellow Serb and third seed Jelena Jankovic or Spanish qualifier Carla Suarez Navarro for a place in the final.
- SAPA