Los Angeles: July 21-27

March 4, 2008 06:03 PM
CARSON, Calif. (AP) -- Ana Ivanovic hit 31 winners, including 23 off her powerful forehand, and beat Nadia Petrova 7-5, 6-4 to win the East West Bank Classic on Sunday.

Ivanovic completed a big day for Serbian tennis by winning her second tournament of the year. Her countryman Novak Djokovic upset world No. 1 Roger Federer in three sets to win the Rogers Cup title in Montreal.

"I saw some of his match," she said. "He played amazing tennis, so I was motivated to do the same thing."

A year ago, Ivanovic was ranked 19th. On Monday, she is projected to rise one spot to a career-high fourth in the WTA Tour rankings. In between, the 19-year-old was runner-up at the French Open and a semifinalist at Wimbledon this year.

Ivanovic closed out the 1 1/2 -hour match by serving a love game, punctuated by an ace into the outside corner of the service box, one of four she had. She was broken just once after saving four break points in her first service game of the match.

She took the first set with a crosscourt forehand winner that was out of Petrova's reach.

Ivanovic led 4-2 in the second set before Petrova's forehand volley winner left the Russian trailing 5-4. Petrova hit 19 winners in the match, which were offset by 22 unforced errors.

Petrova advanced to the final when top-seeded Maria Sharapova defaulted because of a lower left leg strain Saturday night.

Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan and retired Los Angeles Kings star Luc Robitaille were among the fans at Home Depot Center.

 

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