TENNIS WTA Rome – Serena Williams dropped the first set of her Rome campaign against Ana Ivanovic, but reached the second straight final following a 6-1 3-6 6-1 win. Giulio Gasparin
The world number one had to fight hard and come out on top to overcome the Serb, who showed some of her best tennis.
The two sets dominated by the American were not deprived of fight, as the 2008 Roland Garros champion often forced her opponent to play stunning rallies and face delicate points.
Williams, who went unbeaten on clay in 2013, did not have the chance to be fully tested on the surface this season, but showed to be ready to defend her Rome crown, after dropping the ones of Charleston and Madrid.
The first seed realised she had to find her best tennis from the very beginning as Ivanovic started aggressively and had immediately a chance to break.
With a massive display of strength, Williams hold serve and tried to break her opponent’s, but an ace from the Serb denied it.
The battle between the two became thrilling and lots of great points followed one after the other, but it was the world number one, who was winning the most important ones.
In what felt like a eye blink, the defending champion closed the first set with authority.
Ivanovic made great use of the words of her coach between the sets, as she stepped back on court with a renewed attitude and similarly to the start of the first partial, she tried to be more aggressive.
She held for the second time in the match to start the set on the front foot and never stopped being as she broke Williams’s serve in the second game, despite needing to stop playing for a few minutes due to a fly hitting her eye.
Suddenly roles switched, Ivanovic was barely missing and her first serve was almost always in and causing troubles to the reigning champion, whose errors started to add up, while her serve sank.
On 4-0 down, Williams tried a reaction, the volume of her grunts grew together with the power of her shots. She took one of the two breaks back and held securely, but Ivanovic did let her comeback succeed.
The Serb hold her nerves and closed the second set on the third set point.
One was to expect a reaction from the world number one, but what happened in the third set was astonishing.
Williams came back thunderously and gave no hope to Ivanovic, who suddenly was overwhelmed by the power, pace and depth of the American’s shots.
The Serb finally found a game in the third set just when she was about to run out of time, on 5-0 for the world number one.
She tried to react and get a boost of confidence from this hold of serve, but Williams did not want to waste any more time and with the third ace of the game, the fifth of the match, she closed the match and gained a ticket for the final.
Williams is definitely the favourite to defend her title, as she has never lost to Sara Errani, whose terrific clay-court tennis lacks the power to outhit the American.
The only advantages the Italian has leading to the final act of tomorrow is the knowledge of having nothing to lose and a 10.500 screaming fans all behind her.
