NEW YORK: Former world number one Ana Ivanovic was the first major casualty of the US Open as the Serbian seventh seed lost 6-3 3-6 6-3 to Dominika Cibulkova in the opening match at Arthur Ashe Stadium yesterday.
Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion and a semi-finalist at Roland Garros this year, fell victim to an unlucky draw as the 50th-ranked Cibulkova of Slovakia was ranked in the top 10 last year before slipping after an Achilles-related surgery.
“It was a very tough matchup, I thought, especially for the first round,” said the 27-year-old Serb.
“It’s definitely very disappointing, because I felt like I did a lot of hard work over last few months. Over the last week, I had great preparation, lots of good training and everything.”
Cibulkova seized the advantage with a service break in the fourth game of the third set for a 3-1 lead and consolidated it with a backhand drop shot to make it 4-1.
A backhand long from Ivanovic, who had her blistered left foot taped midway through the final set, ended the nearly two-hour contest.
Cibulkova, a 2014 Australian Open finalist, will next face American qualifier Jessica Pegula, a 7-5 6-3 winner over Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck.
For Ivanovic, the result continued an up-and-down season. She reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros this year and was coming off back-to-back quarter-finals at U.S. Open tune-up events in Toronto and Cincinnati.
She also has lost three times to players outside the top-100 this year, including twice at grand slams.
“I really felt like I had been improving. Last week I saw a huge improvement in my game overall. My serve was really good today,” said Ivanovic.
“It was very tough first match I think for both of us. First match of the tournament, as well.”
Venus Williams won a tough three-set match, bouncing back after failing to close out the win in the second.
The 35-year-old Williams, the oldest woman in the field, has never lost in the first round of the U.S. Open. The seven-time major champ beat 85th-ranked Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-3 yesterday to improve to 17-0 in her openers in New York.
Williams had a chance to serve out the second set, then wasted four match points in the tiebreaker. Undaunted, she promptly broke Puig’s serve to open the third and stayed ahead from there to win in 2 hours, 40 minutes.
The 21-year-old Puig reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2013, but has now lost in the first round at her past three major tournaments.