-
Ivanovic: Straight sets defeat
Number one seed Ana Ivanovic has crashed out of Wimbledon in the third round after a straight sets defeat to China's Jie Zheng.
The French Open champion, who survived an almighty scare in the last round against Nathalie Dechy, was unable to produce another escape act and ultimately fell to a convincing 6-1 6-4 defeat.
Once again the Serb struggled for any sort of consistency with her game littered with unforced errors.
Zheng took full advantage of her opponent's erratic form and raced through the opening set in just half an hour.
Having been broken to fall 3-1 behind, Ivanovic appeared powerless to counter her opponent's crisp groundstrokes and struggled to make much impact on Zheng's delivery.
Indeed, she surrendered another break to trail 5-1 before finally rousing herself to force four break points to keep the set alive.
However, she was unable to take any, with Zheng eventually serving out to edge a set clear.
If the crowd on Court One had expected to see another fightback from Ivanovic they were to be disappointed as her Chinese rival quickly forged a break ahead in the second to lead 2-1.
Ivanovic did briefly threaten to seize the momentum as she broke back in the very next game, but it proved only a temporary respite as Zheng secured another quick break to take the upper hand.
It was a blow from which Ivanovic was not to recover as the world number 133 held her serve for three consecutive games to clinch the biggest win of her career.
In doing so, Zheng booked a fourth round clash with Hungary's Agnes Szavay and cut a jubilant figure after her historic victory.
"I like to play on the grass but I'm surprised I won the match," she stated. "I just kept going and tried to do my best.
"This was a tough match because she has the good serve and big forehand. I just tried to give her the backhand more."
