19th January, 2014
Ana Ivanovic has dumped out World number one, Serena Williams from the Australian Open.
The Serb, seeded 14th in the tournament defeated Serena 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
It was a massive upset recorded by the Serb in the fourth round as Ivanovic stalled Serena Williams’ bid to match Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova with 18 Grand Slam titles. For 26 year old Ivanovic, the victory has set her up for a last-eight clash against either Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard or local hope Casey Dellacqua.
“It’s amazing, I just wanted to play the best I could,” said Ivanovic. “I’m so thrilled that I played so well. I was very consistent and I’m happy about that.”
Since winning at Roland Garros in 2008, Ivanovic, ranked 14, has only made a Grand Slam quarter-final once before, at the 2012 US Open.
But under new coach Nemanja Kontic, the Serb has been thriving and came into Melbourne on the back of winning her 12th career title in Auckland by defeating Venus Williams in three sets.
She ground down Williams with her sizzling groundstrokes for her first win against the American in five encounters.
Williams, who was gunning for a sixth Australian crown, did not appear to be moving freely with unconfirmed reports that she was carrying an injury.
She pulled out of the doubles on Friday, although that was blamed on an injury to sister Venus.
Despite the shock loss, Williams set a new record by appearing in her 70th match at the Australian Open, surpassing the previous record held by Lindsay Davenport.
In an earlier match, Chinese star Li Na raced past Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova in less than an hour to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals at a canter on Sunday.
The two-time Melbourne finalist and 2011 French Open winner was rarely extended in the 6-2, 6-0 win in 59 minutes in warm conditions on Hisense Arena.
The world number four is now just two wins from her third Melbourne final, and three victories from ending her jinx at the season’s opening Grand Slam.
The 31-year-old led the 2011 final before losing to Kim Clijsters, and last year she was ahead against Victoria Azarenka but dramatically twice rolled her ankle and briefly blacked out.
Li’s all-court game was too much for Makarova, and she broke in the third game when the Russian 22nd seed failed to clear the net with a forehand drop shot.
After fighting off break points in the fifth game, she broke again for 5-2 and then sealed the first set with an emphatic backhand winner.
She did not ease up in the second set, breaking immediately with a forehand at the net and again with a sizzling cross-court backhand to go 3-0 up.
The finish line was in sight but Li had to refocus after conceding two break points in the following game, and she aggressively forced two errors from Makarova to maintain her advantage.
Another break for Li made it 5-0 and she finished Makarova off in stylish fashion, coming in to the net and burying a backhand volley deep in the left corner.
Li will next play Italy’s Flavia Pennetta, who at 31 is one day older than the Chinese player, with both turning 32 next month.
“At least she’s one day older than me, so I’ll play an older player,” said Li. “So nobody will talk about my age.”