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Serena Williams of the U.S. leans on her racquet during her women's singles match against Ana Ivanovic of Serbia at the Australian Open 2014 tennis tournament in Melbourne January 19, 2014. [Photo/Agencies] |
The other quarterfinal on this half will feature two women who'll turn 32 next month, after two-time finalist Li Na beat No. 22 Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-0 and No. 28 Flavia Pennetta upset No. 9 Angelique Kerber 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.
Novak Djokovic continued his bid for a fourth straight title here with a 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 win over Fabio Fognini in 1 { hours, while No. 3-seeded David Ferrer advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Florian Mayer 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2, 6-1.
In the 52 previous matches here where she'd won the first set, Williams had only ever lost one match _ against fellow American Sloane Stephens in last year's quarterfinals.
The crowd was evenly divided at first but, sensing an upset, started backing Ivanovic, the former girlfriend of Australian golfer Adam Scott, as the match progressed.
After dropping serve twice in the first set, Ivanovic didn't face another break point in the second or third sets. She broke Williams three times, frequently standing well inside the baseline to receive.
She had 33 winners, including 20 on her forehand side. She also had a little bit of luck, when she drove a backhand into the top of the net, and it looped over and caught the line at an important stage of the third set.
"I had to remind myself all the time just to stay in the moment, because there were moments in the match where it could have gone either way," Ivanovic said. "But I really just believed in my game and stepped up when I needed to."
Ivanovic won her only major at the French Open in 2008, giving her the No. 1 ranking for a total of 12 weeks. But then she only advanced past the fourth round once at 22 Grand Slams.
"I had to break a spell, fourth round," Ivanovic said, "and what's the better place to do it than here against such a champion?"
Williams hit 22 winners but made 31 unforced errors, mostly on her backhand.
"I made a tremendous amount of errors, shots ... I haven't missed since the `80s," Williams said.
Williams, pausing to concentrate, was given a warning for a time violation in her last service game, and fended off a match point when Ivanovic netted a return.
In the next game, though, Ivanovic set up triple match point when Williams hit a service return too long, and then clinched it just under two hours.
Williams didn't say exactly what the back injury was, but thought she'd get over it in a few days with some rest. She'd thought about pulling out of the tournament, but it wasn't in her nature to concede defeat.
"Maybe I wasn't the best physically, but that had nothing to do with it," Williams said. "I think Ana just played a really good match. She did what it takes to win."
Williams won her last Australian Open title in 2010, and hasn't been past the quarterfinals since then, her campaigns often derailed by injuries at the season's first major.
"I think I have done pretty well here, in general over the history," she said. "I feel like I'll win it again."
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