Ivanovic through to first Wimbeldon semi
Thursday, 5 July 2007 15:47Super Serb Ana Ivanovic saved three match points before sealing her place in her first Wimbledon semi-final with an enthralling 4-6 6-2 7-5 victory over Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova.
Ivanovic held her nerve superbly to stay in the match when she served at 3-5 down in the final set, then capitalised on a series of Vaidisova errors to move on and clinch victory in her first Centre Court appearance.
After exactly two hours, Vaidisova dunked a double-fault into the net to end the match and add to her reputation for mental fragility which has dogged her in big tournaments.
Vaidisova had lost from an almost identical position in last year's French Open semi-final, when she failed to serve out for the match against Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Such drama seemed a long way away in a poor first set, which Vaidisova claimed after an early break and on the back of a steely first serve.
A brief five-minute rain delay did not hinder her concentration.
The sixth seeded Ivanovic was clearly struggling with nerves and for every trademark booming forehand winner came a catalogue of missed backhands and volley errors.
Another break early in the second set put Vaidisova firmly in control, but the Serb broke back with a fine stop-volley at the net, and controlled the second set comfortably to level the scores.
Vaidisova showed few signs of the nerves that would come to haunt her early in the decider, serving superbly and swatting away a forehand volley to again take the early advantage at 2-1.
But as the semi-final loomed it was Ivanovic who coped better with the pressure, leaving her to milk the applause of the Centre Court crowd and ponder a semi-final meeting with Venus Williams, while Vaidisova exited immediately for the locker room, close to tears.
