MELBOURNE – Former world number one Ana Ivanovic Tuesday blamed an injury setback for her shock first-round defeat at the Australian Open. The 2008 Australian finalist and French Open winner made a tame exit when she was beaten by 49th-ranked Russian Ekaterina Makarova 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 in two hours and 47 minutes.
Ivanovic, who only won one match here last year and was a first-round loser at Wimbledon, said she simply lacked match fitness in the marathon third set after being forced to rest an abdominal strain.
The 23-year-old Serb picked up the injury during this month’s Hopman Cup in Perth, where she had to withdraw from the final. “What really I think got to me in the end was fitness, you know, just not being able to stay with her in a longer rallies,” she said. “That was really disappointing. “I was really unlucky, for the last 10 days I couldn’t push hard in practice because of my abdominal strain. “I really only had Sunday and Monday that I could push a little bit more and could actually serve.
“I think that at the end got to me. Energy-wise I felt good, but it was just that few little extra steps that were lacking.”
Despite the loss, Ivanovic said she took many positives out of the performance and remained buoyant after winning two of her final three tournaments last season. “I had a lot of positive things come out of this match,” she said. “Today she was better, all credit to her, but I still have lot of room to improve and lot of things to build on.”
