Top seed hurts ankle in second round
By Anil John
A BITTERLY cold desert storm hit Doha last night severely testing the players’ resolve, but the top four still managed to make progress in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s $2.5mn Qatar Total Open. Ana Ivanovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelena Jankovic and Maria Sharapova all advanced to the third round of the event, although the fifth seed Anna Chakvetadze fell to China’s Li Na who was playing competitively after a six-month injury break.
Ivanovic, who was the World No. 2 before the tournament began, but has slipped to third position after the new rankings were announced on Monday, appeared to be cruising past Belarussian Olga Govortsova when she suffered a nasty fall and badly hurt her left ankle just two points away from victory.
Writhing in agony even as she was treated on court, Ivanovic, who was in Doha a week before the event started to get used to the conditions, somehow pulled through the match after having her ankle strapped, winning 6-3, 6-1.
“I’ll have to wait out the night and see how my ankle is tomorrow morning,” Ivanovic said. “It definitely hurts a lot and I have difficulty walking.”
She added: “They think it might be a strain. I have to wait and see how it reacts overnight. But honestly it’s very questionable for tomorrow although I’ll try to recover as best I can and see if I can go on court. ”
The Australian Open runner-up to Sharapova said she was worried she would not be able to pull through the final stages of the match.
“I was a little bit scared and thought I couldn’t finish the match. I just took my chances and don’t know how I managed to finish. I knew I had to go for my shots because I couldn’t run or go into deep rallies.”
The conditions were so difficult that even standing still was a challenge and but for the issues of packed schedules, television rights and the amount of money involved, there was no way play would have continued.
The weather certainly bothered Kuznetsova no end as she eked out a 7-5, 7-5 win over Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy.
Kuznetsova was down by two games in the second set at 1-3, but hung on tenaciously to complete a creditable victory. The Russian said she had never experienced such conditions ever in her career.
“It was very, very, very difficult because I have not played in a wind like this,” said Kuznetsova. “It was simply crazy - you couldn’t control the ball, and you can’t do any tactics. You have to be clever and create something because it’s a totally unpredictable situation.
“You have to be clever and analyse as you play how the wind is blowing and what she doesn’t like.
“It’s very hard to keep calm. You see an easy ball but you can’t make it and sometimes it’s easier to make a hard ball than an easy one.”
Kuznetsova just managed to keep ahead of her rival, especially in the first set when Dechy came within a whisker of leveling at 6-6 after being down 2-5.
Sharapova advanced to the third round, but was tested by compatriot Galina Voskoboeva who managed to take the second set.
“It was very difficult to play my game and I just had to do whatever it took to survive to another day,” Sharapova said after her 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 win. |
