Fairytale complete for Ivanovic

Just a few weeks ago if you said to Ana Ivanovic that you would win the French Open and at the same time claim the no. 1 ranking in women’s tennis she would have said you are dreaming.

We now all know that Justine Henin suddenly retired from the game to leave the  top ranking up for grabs in the French Open. As it turned out Ivanovic after making the final clinched the top spot.

Next the young Serbian just had to win her first grand slam title to complete the fairytale.

In the final at Roland Garros she was up against the surprise finalist, Dinara Safina. The younger sister of Marat Safin had surprised tennis fans by eliminating the then world no. 1 Maria Sharapova in the fourth round.

As with all grand slam finals being able to handle your nerves on this big occasion can play a key role in the match. Today it looked like the experience of two previous grand slam finals was going to the difference for Ivanovic as she jumped out to a 4-1 lead.

Safina as in previous matches showed she can mount a comeback and the match quickly turned as Safina got a run of games to level at 4-4. It was here that experience counted and Ivanovic got a crucial break to win the first set 6-4.

At the start of the second set both players held serve. In game 3 with the Russian serving it was a couple of mistakes later that she dropped serve to give her opponent the edge.

Ivanovic despite not playing at the top of her game pushed on and did not give back that service break. There were some tough games in the middle of the set which were crucial. If Safina broke back it may have boosted her confidence. It did not happen and Ivanovic went on to claim the set 6-3 and along with it her first grand slam title.

The former queen of clay and world no. 1 Justine Henin was on hand to present the trophy to her successor.

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