The No. 7 seed was upset by 50th-ranked Dominika Cibulkova in Round 1 on Monday losing in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
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Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic kissed the dust too early at the U.S. Open after falling to the wits and grits of Dominika Cibulkova.
It was Ivanovic’s first US Open opening-round exit since she suffered a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) loss to No. 52 Kateryna Bondarenko in the 2009 Flushing Meadows first round. The grueling 3 hour, 14 minute match included only two breaks of serve for each player, with Paire winning a fourth-set tie breaker after staving off two match points.
Cibulkova represented a tough opening test for Ivanovic, having reached the Australian Open final only past year before falling down the rankings due to an Achilles injury.
Unfinished roof has uses The Arthur Ashe Stadium roof isn’t complete and won’t be closable until next year, but its superstructure and temporary skin on the west and south sides is already proving a benefit to players.
Japanese fourth seed Kei Nishikori, last year’s runner-up, crashed out Monday in the first round of the US Open while Serena Williams’ path to tennis history lost several major obstacles.
“So it’s not easy but today I felt like she used her opportunities better than I did”. “Over the last week, I had great preparation, lots of good training and everything”. “Because I felt like I did a lot of hard work the last few months”.
“It was just unfortunate that, you know, we came up against one another so early in a tournament”.
“I just had to stay tough and know I had to do it, she doesn’t give away shots”.
Cibulkova will now face American qualifier Jessica Pegula in the second round.
Canadian 25th seed Eugenie Bouchard, who has failed to build on her breakout season in 2014, broke serve five times en route to a 6-4 6-3 win against Alison Riske.
In the final set shootout it was Cibulkova that held her nerve, rediscovering her return and claiming the decisive break when an Ivanovic forehand found the tape.
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For Ivanovic, the loss draws to a close a disappointing year in the grand slams with early defeats in all but the French Open representing a poor 2015 which promised so much for the former world number one after finishing as the runner-up in Brisbane to Maria Sharapova.
