as she dropped set one, then rebounded in set two before dropping the match 7-6(7-4), 2-6, 6-4.
In January, Ivanovic began the year on a positive note as she defeated former world number one Venus Williams of the USA in the Australian Open quarterfinals before finishing as finalist. Then came two breakthrough titles for Ivanovic at Indian Wells and at the French Open.
It would seem Ivanovic's hard work and a new offcourt training program were paying off as she would top the WTA Tour world rankings after the French Open, but then injury struck. Ivanovic went on a string of surprise losses and withdraws, blaming a sore thumb and limited training.
Following her French Open win, Ivanovic withdrew from the Beijing Olympics and has gone a dismal 5-5 in WTA Tour match play, including losing 3 of her last 4 matches. The Jie loss could not be an outright shock however as she also defeated Ivanovic at Wimbledon in third round play 6-1, 6-4.
Ivanovic today contributed greatly to her own defeat as she failed twice to serve out the first set of the nearly three hour long match and turned in several unforced errors at inopportune times.
Despite the loss Ivanovic, who has fallen from one to four in the rankings, remained optimistic.
“I haven’t had many matches in the last three months,” she said. “Since the French Open, you can count them on one hand the number of matches I played. I’ve been really struggling with injuries and it was a very frustrating time. But now I am confident again that I play 100 percent, and I can go on the court and work 100 percent.”
