Who is Ana Ivanovic

Ana Ivanovic Biography 

Ana Ivanovic started the year 2008 by participating in an exhibition tournament in Hong Kong, where she was seeded first. She lost to Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Ivanovic then entered the Silver Group, a competition among all first match losers. Based on her world ranking, she was favored to win that competition; however, she lost to World No. 45 Shuai Peng 6-1, 6-3.

Anna Ivanovic's next tournament was the Tier II Medibank International in Sydney, which attracted 12 of the top 15 ranked women. After trailing 5-2 in the third set of her second round match, Ivanovic defeated Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 6-1, 2-6, 7-5. In the quartefinals, Ivanovic defeated Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik but then lost to Justine Henin in the semifinals 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. This was the first time in four meetings that Ivanovic took a set off Henin.

Anna Ivanovic entered the Australian Open as the fourth seed and reached the quarterfinals for the first time. There, Ivanovic defeated Venus Williams for the first time 7-6, 6-4. In her semifinal against Daniela Hantuchova, Ivanovic prevailed 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach her second career Grand Slam singles final, after having trailed 6-0, 2-0. She then lost to Maria Sharapova 7-5, 6-3. Because of her performance at this tournament, her ranking rose to World No. 2, the highest of her career.

In Serbia's Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I D round robin tie against Poland in Budapest, Ivanovic defeated World No. 215 Urszula Radwanska in straight sets. In Serbia's second round robin tie against Romania, Ivanovic defeated Monica Niculescu 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 and then teamed with Jelena Jankovic to win the deciding doubles rubber against the Romanian team 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(2). In the promotion playoff, Ivanovic beat Renee Reinhard of the Netherlands 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 as Serbia advanced to the World Group II playoffs in April.

Ana Ivanovic was the top-seeded player at the Qatar Total Open in Doha for the first time in a Tier I tournament. She defeated Olga Govortsova in the second round 6-3, 6-1 but subsequently withdrew from the tournament because of an ankle injury suffered during that match. The following week at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, the third-seeded Ivanovic lost in the quarterfinals to the eighth-seeded Dementieva 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

In March at the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, the top-seeded Ivanovic defeated Jankovic in the semifinals 7-6(3), 6-3 before defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Ivanovic was the second-seeded player but lost to Lindsay Davenport in the third round in straight sets.

Ivanovic was the defending champion and second-seeded player at the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin. She lost, however, to Dementieva in the semifinals 6-2, 7-5 for the fourth time in four career matches. At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Ivanovic was the top seed but lost in the second round to Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

Ivanovic was the second-seeded player at the French Open. She defeated World No. 3 Jankovic in the semifinals 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, guaranteeing that Ivanovic would become the World No. 1, regardless of whether she won the final. Ivanovic then went on to defeat Dinara Safina in the final, winning her first Grand Slam singles title.

Ivanovic then withdrew from the International Women's Open in Eastbourne, United Kingdom, citing a muscle injury.

At Wimbledon, Ivanovic was the top-seeded player and defeated French veteran player Nathalie Dechy in the second round 6-7(2), 7-6(3), 10-8. The match took 3 hours, 24 minutes to play, with Ivanovic saving two match points while trailing 5-4 in the second set and Dechy saving three match points in the third set before succumbing. Ivanovic then lost in the third round to unseeded wildcard Zheng Jie of China, who was ranked World No. 133, 6-1, 6-4.