Ana Ivanovic Making Her Way Back

CINCINNATI--With the way she has played this week at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, it seems pretty safe to say that Ana Ivanovic is back. 

Playing aggressive, decisive tennis that has been built around her much steadier serve (and more specifically her service toss), Ivanovic is stepping into the court and hitting with the same abandon that won her the 2008 French Open and earned her the No. 1 ranking on the WTA Tour.  

Though the incredibly sharp downturn that followed those achievements undermined her reputation, Ivanovic's rise to the top of the women's game was no fluke.  Her powerful forehand, solid serve, and imposing return game allowed her to bulldoze opponents in the same way a young Lindsay Davenport had years earlier.

But Ivanovic seemed to struggle with the loneliness that the top spot brought.  Her struggles more mental and emotional than physical, Ivanovic's ranking plummeted, and quickly.  As top seed at the 2008 US Open, Ivanovic made history by losing in the second round to qualifier Julie Coin, who was not even ranked inside the top 200.

From there, the struggles continued.  Since winning the French Open final in 2008, Ivanovic has not made it back even as far as a grand slam quarterfinal.  Her ranking recently fell out of the top 50, forcing her to need wild cards to get into the events during this 2010 US Open Series. 

After losses in the second and first rounds of Stanford and San Diego (losing in straight sets to Top 20 players both times), Ivanovic was dealt another tough draw in Cincinnati, drawing #9 seed and recent Stanford champion Victoria Azarenka in the first round.  But after losing the first four games of the match and thrice being down a break in the second set, Ivanovic stormed back late in the second and into the third, pulling off a massive upset 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-2. 

Since then, Ivanovic has continued to roll against tough competition, beating Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1, 7-5 in the second round, and Elena Vesnina 6-0, 6-3 today in the third to book her spot in the quarterfinals. 

In the quarterfinal she will face the winner of the match going on now between qualifier Akgul Amanmuradova and  top-seed Jelena Jankovic.  The match-up with Jankovic would be an especially intriguing one, not only because of their natural rivalry as the two best women's players in Serbian history, but also because of the possible bad blood that was generated in Madrid when Jankovic mocked Ivanovic's signature fistpumps after beating her.

But if their present forms continue, this next meeting between the Serbs could be different.  Ivanovic's scorelines have been more impressive in Cincinnati thus far, and the motivation has to be greater for her.  Confidence, which was always her issue, seems to no longer be a problem (at least for now).

TDF: The scoreline is like one of the scorelines you had when you were rising to No. 1 in the world back in 2008. Do you think you're playing as well as you were then?

ANA IVANOVIC: In some ways probably better, I think.  I'm being more aggressive than I was back then. I think it's still a process, like I was saying. But I think I'm much more experienced than I was then.  And, you know, when you're young and upcoming and you win lots of the matches, you definitely take things for granted. I definitely don't do that anymore. But in some way I feel like I'm a different player and more mature one. I think in the long run, it's even better.