Ivanovic survives scare to win

Ivanovic digs deep Ana Ivanovic was taken to the brink of defeat by Lucie Hradecka, the newcomer from the Czech Republic, and had to save two match points before clinching victory 5-7, 6-2, 8-6. Ivanovic, the 13th seed and a former French champion, has always found Wimbledon particularly challenging and she was fighting to avoid going out of the tournament in the first round for the first time in her career. Against Hradecka, the Serb might have thought she held a clear chance of winning. The Czech woman, ranked 58th in the world, was playing at Wimbledon for the first time, having made her Grand Slam debut in the French championships last month. She had tried to qualify for Wimbledon on three previous occasions. The 26-year-old Hradecka lists grass as her favourite surface and certainly displayed an understanding of the skills required. Her powerful hitting gave her the first set 7-5 after 42 minutes. Hradecka had been the first to drop serve in the seventh game but broke back imnmediately. The second set was a different story. Hradecka, her left thigh heavily strapped, was not able to sustain the accuracy in her ground strokes and let Ivanovic break through in the fifth game. The Serb then won three more in a row to take the second set and square the match after 80 minutes. Court 4, by this time, was beginning to fall into almost total shade. As darkness beckoned, it was Hradecka who ran into trouble as she dropped serve to trail 5-4. Serving, Ivanovic went to match point with a service winner. But a forehand down the line from Hradecka saved that and she closed out the break back as Ivanovic slipped and fell at the back of the court. At 6-5, Hradecka had two match points on Ivanovic’s serve. But Ivanovic counter-attacked with a service winner and a smash to escape. Hradecka then lost her serve to love. Ivanovic, now riding a final wave of confidence, reached match point with a net cord forehand and went through to the second round on a winning serve.