Wimbledon 2015: Ivanovic schools Xu

Ana Ivanovic struck a big win on her strong service including numerous winners to make it into the second round at Wimbledon Monday. The Serbian superstar defeated China’s Yi-Fan Xu 6-1, 6-0 on Court Three at the All England Club.

The former number one got underway in her 11^th appearance at Wimbledon looking to best her past seven exits in the early rounds. Last year, the Serbian was knocked out of the third round losing to Sabine Lisicki in three sets. Her opening match was against the 26 year old Chinese player who fought well through qualifications in her first appearance at the All England Club.

Two weeks ago, Xu made it to the quarterfinals of the AEGON Open losing in the semifinals where she was allowed just four games in straight sets. She has a huge task in front of her as Ivanovic has been showing strong success in her shots across the court. Though she hasn’t played more than a match on grass, Ivanovic shouldn’t find herself in any trouble early.

Opening the first set, Ivanovic won with two points over Xu, then led by two break points to lead 2-0. Finding herself in a hole, Xu found her game ready to go where she battled against Ivanovic to force deuce but fell to the Serbian after two breaks. The fourth game had a harder fight from the Chinese tennis player where she battled through four breaks only to lose again. Ivanovic took a 5-0 lead where her depth and movement looked to be too much for first timer at Wimbledon.

More from Lob and Smash

In a turn of pace, Xu handled her serve strong enough to pull out a victory, holding off the sweep from Ivanovic that gave her a reason to play on. Unfortunately for her, the Serb had another ideas as she won the set in 23 minutes with a winner on the low corner of the court. Ivanovic had 12 of her 19 shots land inside the court winning 11 of 12 points. Along with her 12 winners in the set, Ivanovic won 28 points overall that put her in the drivers seat to play out the second.

She started the second with a victory off the racket forcing Xu to struggle on the returns. Ivanovic had a hiccup in Game Two on the break point landing the ball into the net but after two breaks, she held the winning streak winning on a beautiful forehand volley down the line. In a blink of an eye, Ivanovic won the third game with a love service that had the 26 year old Tianjin native wondering if she could break from her grip on the match.

After a strong fight in Game Four, Xu forced deuce before gaining the advantage. On a four shot rally, Ivanovic ended her streak a four with the short landing just right of the line to give the rookie a victory. The Serbian recovered well with a double break point to lead 4-1 and return control of serve to her end. Just when it looked as if she would take the game to inch closer to victory, Xu forced deuce only to make an unforced error to lose out on her second win of the set.

Xu, made one last attempt to stay alive in the set, but with Ivanovic responding well on the return, the Serb won on a final double break point to win the match in 62 minutes.

Ivanovic served 79 percent of her shots against Xu while returning at 93 percent that became the biggest factor of her win. With such a strong showing on court and little time on grass, Ivanovic made her match look like a cakewalk. She will look forward to having more matches like it when she faces Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States in the round of 64.

Ana Ivanovic makes a big return during her match against Yi-Fan Xu.

Home/Majors