Ivanovic battles past McHale at Olympics
July 28th, 2012 - 11:09 pm ICT by IANSLondon, July 28 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic booked her place in the second round of the Olympic women’s singles tennis event Saturday, knocking out Christina McHale of the United States.
Former French Open champion Ivanovic prevailed 6-4, 6-5 on the Wimbledon grass on the first day of the Olympic tennis tournament.
“It was a little bit up and down, we both started off a little bit nervous but that’s normal for the first match. I’m really happy that I managed to stay calm and win,” Ivanovic said.
McHale said the scoreline did not reflect her chances in the match.
“A couple of points could have gone either way that would have changed things but she played well when she needed to,” McHale said.
Elsewhere, Belgium’s Kim Clijsters won her first-ever Olympic match, just months before her scheduled retirement from tennis.
Clijsters swept past Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-4 in her tie and will now face either fifth seed Samantha Stosur of Australia or Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.
There were also wins for Urszula Radwanska of Poland, France’s Alize Cornet and China’s Shuai Peng.
In the men’s draw, Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic eliminated Argentinian David Nalbandian 6-3, 6-4, while Steve Darcis of Belgium upset former Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-4.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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Tags: alize cornet, ana ivanovic, christina mchale, david nalbandian, fifth seed, french open, french open champion, janko tipsarevic, kim clijsters, olympic tennis tournament, olympic women, ria novosti, roberta vinci, samantha stosur, scoreline, shuai peng, steve darcis, tennis event, tomas berdych, wimbledon finalist