Top seed Ana Ivanovic saved two match points against Italy's Roberta Vinci as she struggled to a 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-1 win in their second round match at the Brisbane International on Wednesday. Ivanovic was expected to easily win the clash with the Italian qualifier but found herself on the back foot right from the start.
The 83rd-ranked Vinci played some inspired tennis over the first two sets, breaking the Serbian world number five as early as the fifth game. She held the advantage for most of the opening set and although Ivanovic broke back to take it into a tie-break, Vinci continued to dominate and wrapped up the set in just over an hour.
Vinci broke again early in the second, but Ivanovic struck back immediately and somehow managed to hang on despite the Italian playing the better tennis. Vinci continued to attack Ivanovic's second serve and at 5-4 she had two match points at 15-40. But the top seed dug herself out of trouble, then broke Vinci and served out the second set.
The Italian, who had played above herself to stay with Ivanovic as long as she did, was a spent force and ran out of steam in the final set as Ivanovic wrapped up the match in two hours 36 minutes. "At the start of the match I was too far back and was defending much more than I should have," Ivanovic said. "She was dominating much more and I found it hard.
But I tried to fight and hang in there. Ivanovic will take on Amelie Mauresmo in the quarter-finals after Mauresmo downed countrywoman Julie Coin in an epic second round clash. Mauresmo beat Coin 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (13/11) in a superb three-and-a-quarter hours match that belied the difference in class and experience between the two players.