Ivanovic finds her form to beat Errani

Ivanovic punches the air Two days ago, Ana Ivanovic of Serbia was twice a point from going out of Wimbledon. Today, the comeback began in earnest as she defeated Sara Errani of Italy 7-5, 6-1 to reach the third round. What a contrast to the opening day for 13th seeded Ivanovic. She struggled then in the evening gloom and rarely looked remotely satisfied against Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic. Today, in the sunshine on Court 18, Ivanovic did not have things all her own way but when her game was at its peak she responded with vigorous arm pumping and squeals of delight. This was much more like it and she knew it. The 22-year-old Errani, ranked 39th, had no intention of being beaten in a hurry and made an aggressive and optimistic start to the match in her second appearance at Wimbledon. She buzzed around the court, stating her case by breaking the Ivanovic serve in the first game to give herself a useful platform. The Italian did lose her serve in the fourth game but her strong hitting on both flanks kept her in the contest and too often Ivanovic made errors after the longer rallies. Ivanovic was behind again after the seventh game but when Errani double faulted for 5-all it appeared that Ivanovic was about to take control. But she had to fight off four break points before leading 6-5 and then swept Errani aside for a love game to win the first set. Ivanovic’s confidence was now boosted. Even though the Serb dropped her serve in the third game, Errani was a fading force now. She let four games slip away for Ivanovic to win on her first match point after one hour and 17 minutes. Ivanovic is in her fifth Wimbledon and her best performance was to reach the semi-finals two years ago. After today’s performance, she showed she is not wasting this new opportunity to try again for the title. After the match, she said: "I'm really enjoying my tennis at the moment and I love competing and I enjoy challenges. I'm just excited to have opportunity to play in the third round, you know, and against good players. It's going to be exciting, I think." Court 18 - Ladies' Singles - 2nd Round Sara Errani ITA 5 1 Ana Ivanovic SRB (13) 7 6