User:Avatar5991/Ivanovic–S. Williams match at the 2014 Australian Open

The '''Ivanovic–S. Williams match was a fourth round women's tennis match that took place during the 2014 Australian Open'''.

In a major upset, Ana Ivanovic, a former world number one and French Open champion, defeated reigning world number one, tournament favourite and five-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams 4–6, 6–3, 6–3 to win the match. By winning, Ivanovic recorded her first career victory over Williams in five attempts, and opened the draw wide open for other contenders such as Li Na and Victoria Azarenka to win the title.

The match was the most discussed on social media, especially on Twitter, eclipsing the previous record set during the 2012 Australian Open men's final.

Background
The match took place on the seventh day of the 2014 edition of the Australian Open, which has been held annually during January since 1988. Serena Williams entered the tournament as the world number one, and was seen by many as the favourite for the title, given her phenomenal 2013 season in which she won eleven titles, including the French and US Opens, won over $12 million in prize money and reclaimed the world number one ranking from Victoria Azarenka. Ivanovic, on the other hand, had entered the tournament following years of under-performance following her triumph at the 2008 French Open.

Williams entered this match having won her opening three matches for the loss of only twelve games, while Ivanovic dropped only one set en route to the fourth round, in a three-set victory over local hope Samantha Stosur in round three.

The pair previously met four times, with Serena Williams winning each time in straight sets.

Match
Serena Williams won the coin toss and elected to serve. She began the match with an ace, and won the first set 6-4 after breaking Ana Ivanovic twice in the opening set. Despite the loss of the first set, Ivanovic performed better in most statistical categories.

Ivanovic then started to improve her performance, facing no further break points for the remainder of the match. She made a breakthrough in the second set, breaking Williams at 2–all in the second set to move ahead and a further break was enough for her to clinch it 6–3. This marked the first time that Ivanovic had won more than four games in a set against Williams.

In the final set, Ivanovic broke twice for a 3–0 lead, and then managed to conjure a match point against serve in the eighth game of the set. However, a forehand error would see her lose that game, but was then given the chance to serve out the match in the ninth and final game. Ivanovic eventually held to love after Williams went long on Ivanovic's first serve at triple match point.

By winning the match, Ivanovic ended Serena Williams' 25-match winning streak which had dated back to August last year, while extending her own winning streak to 9–0, her longest since 2008.

It was later revealed that Williams had played through the match with a back injury, which affected her performance in this match.

Statistics
Source

Ivanovic and Williams about the match
Ivanovic said after the match that this victory ranked as "one of the best wins of her career", and that she had employed different tactics in her bid to defeat Williams:

"Yeah, definitely. I mean, she's such a great player, you know. Going on to the court today, I really just tried to give my best. I tried to make it a good match. I was very competitive till the last moment, and I'm just very thrilled, obviously. Well, I actually believed. I had some confidence coming into today's match. I really did certain things extremely well, you know, and I kept her under pressure I felt throughout the whole match. I just, I think, you know, I just stayed in the moment physically. I didn't think much about the occasion and who I was playing, because it can get overwhelming. You know, I just stick with my things and it paid off. It's hard. I had to remind myself all the time, you know, just to stay in the moment. Because there were moments in the match where it could have gone either way. I could have, you know, just made few more errors. But I really just believed in my game and stepped up when I needed to. You know, I had to break a spell, fourth round, and what's the better place to do it than here against such a champion?"

- Ana Ivanovic

Williams explained how her injuries contributed to her rare defeat:

"Yeah, definitely didn't feel myself today, you know, going into the match. It was fine. I made a tremendous amount of errors, shots I missed I normally don't miss. I haven't missed since the '80s. I'm just not used to missing those shots. She made some good shots, and I just made way, way, a lot of unforced errors. I'm always disappointed when I lose, but it's always a good thing. I plan on getting better. I think it's almost good that I lost today because now I know what to work on I know what to do when I get on the practice court. Like I said, I was just trying to do the best I could today. Maybe I wasn't the best physically, but that had nothing to do with it. I think Ana just played a really good match. She did what it takes to win."

- Serena Williams

Reaction
Ivanovic's victory over Williams drew universal headlines for her fearless performance against the world number one.

Sports Illustrated journalist John Wertheim, said that the key to Ivanovic's victory was employing a mix of bold ballstriking, unflustered play and brilliant strategy:

"Misleading as tennis stats can be, in this case, the scoresheet serves as forensic evidence. Ivanovic won more points overall and 16 more points returning. She hit 20 forehand winners to Serena's two. Ivanovic won more points behind her first serve. In short, she "out-Serena'ed" Serena. "How did it happen?" Ivanovic giddily asked after the match."

- John Wertheim, Sports Illustrated

Fellow colleague Courtney Nguyen also explained how Ivanovic was able to maintain her composure after the loss of the opening set:

"Even with a break lead early in the final set, an Ivanovic victory seemed far off. She was on a roll in every facet of the game, swatting return winners off Williams’ second serve and stepping in to control as many rallies as possible with her forehand. There would be no wobble this time: Ivanovic held her final two service games at love. For a player who has struggled with her serve over the years, Ivanovic faced just three break points in the match, all in the first set. Williams went nine consecutive games without earning a break point. Ivanovic beat Williams for the first time in five attempts, snapped the 17-time major champion’s 25-match winning streak and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the first time since 2008."

- Courtney Nguyen

London's The Daily Telegraph put the victory into context by describing her recent career struggles:

"The 26 year-old reached the Australian Open final in 2008 and followed up by winning her maiden grand slam title at the French Open the same year to become world number one. Great things were predicted but the weight of expectation was too much for Ivanovic at such a young age and she had managed only one more grand slam quarter-final. This was without question her best grand slam victory since winning Roland Garros, and she was nerveless serving it out to love."

- The Daily Telegraph, London

Richard Hinds, writing for The Daily Telegraph (Australia), pointed out that Serena had recognised Ana as being the better player on the day:

"SERENA Williams arrived at this Australian Open hoping to win the 18th grand slam title that would tie her with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the all-time winners list, behind only Margaret Court, Steffi Graf and Helen Wills Moody. This, we - and particularly the bookmakers who made her an odds-on favourite - had assumed would enhance Williams' increasingly compelling claim to be considered the greatest female tennis player of all time. So how was it that for almost all the one hour and 56 minutes of Williams' 6-4 3-6 3-6 defeat to Ana Ivanovic she was not even the best player on Rod Laver Arena? How was Williams so badly humbled by a player who had not taken a set from her in five previous encounters? The answer came in the moments after the match. It came in the long and clearly heartfelt congratulations Williams offered Ivanovic at the net and the mantra she repeated often at her press conference: Full credit to Ana. She played a great match.'' So often in the past Williams has been accused of being a sore loser. It says something about how well Ivanovic executed a devastating game plan that, this time, Williams was just sore."

- Richard Hinds, ''The Daily Telegraph

But while the worldwide media praised Ivanovic for her victory, USA Today summed up this match in a Williams' point of view, claiming that "Serena Williams got beat":

"Most surprising was that Ivanovic won the match by beating Serena at her own power game. She hit 20 forehand winners to Serena’s two. She returned Serena’s powerful serve with ease, giving herself 14 break opportunities during the match. Ivanovic, a player who’s snatched defeat from the jaws of victory countless times over the past five years, was even able to hold her serve with ease when victory was close. Even after Serena held with a dominant game at 2-5 in the third and everyone in Rod Laver Stadium could feel a slight momentum shift, Ivanovic clinched the match with a service game at love. In Serena’s last two major losses — to Sloane Stephens in the 2013 Australian Open and to Sabine Lisicki at Wimbledon later that year — she did more to lose than her opponents did to win. And, to be fair, she didn’t play well against Ivanovic. Her balance was off and her footwork non-existent. In her post-match press conference, she spoke of a nagging back injury, though she gave all credit to Ivanovic. Serena isn’t usually one to give excuses, especially when the best explanation for her Sunday loss is more simple than that. On this particular afternoon, injury or not, she wasn’t the best player on the court. It’s not often Serena Williams can say that at a Grand Slam."

- Chris Chase, USA Today

The match was the most discussed of this year's tournament, and broke a new record for the most discussed match in Australian Open history on Twitter, eclipsing the previous record set during the 2012 men's final.

Significance
Ivanovic's victory was all the more significant considering:
 * Entering the Australian Open, Williams had won seventeen Grand Slam titles, including five Australian Open titles,
 * Was at the top of the WTA rankings with over 13,260 points (a lead of 5,000 points over second-placed Victoria Azarenka) and more than double the amount of third placed Maria Sharapova.
 * Was a short-priced favorite (at $1.75) to win the tournament and $1.04 to win this match alone.

Ivanovic's victory not only marked the first time she had beaten a reigning world number one, or won more than four games in a set against Williams, but it also marked the first time since the 2007 French Open, when she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova in successive matches, that she had beaten a fellow seed ranked higher than her.

Aftermath
Ivanovic was unable to back up the victory over Williams in the subsequent quarter-final. She lost to 30th seed Eugenie Bouchard in three sets and had her nine-match winning streak (and undefeated start to the year) ended.