Ana Ivanovic secured the third title of her career as she fought back to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final of the German Open in Berlin on Sunday.
The 19-year-old Serbian beat third seed Kuznetsova of Russia 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4).

Kuznetsova had earlier beaten world number one Justine Henin in a rain-interrupted semi-final.

"I cannot say I was very fresh," said Kuznetsova. "The third set was tough. The final was a minus, but there were more pluses."

Well done Ana.. good for her!! :clap:

I'm sure that her legions of (ooh let me guess) mainly male fans will be delighted too ;)

Shame for Sveta though, but again she's looking in good shape for RG..

well done ana :clap:

Most impressive result for me from this chick...Congratulations!!! She just needs to find some consistancy!I know Wise will be happy!

Congrats Ana, great result :D

It was a great win, was playing superb sustrained tennis all week. Well done Ana :D

Only thing that puzzles me is the huge rankings surge. Has risen from 16 to 8 :o

It is a big jump but then the rankings are all very close at the moment. Plus Ivanovic didn't have any points to defend from the event last year & with the increase in points for all tournaments this year there are likely to be more jumps while half the points are old style and half new.

Exactly. Also, Petrova (who dropped most of her title points) passed her going the other way, and Clijsters has been 'disappeared' from the rankings so that put Ivanovic an extra spot higher than she might have been ordinarily.

The big question is whether the new title and status will begin to have a demonstrable effect on her confidence and results (as it did for Chakvetadze when she won Moscow, although it took a while longer before she broke the Top 10).

Well I just hope Ivanovic doesn't do too well in Rome and muck up Serena's chances of getting in the top 8 for RG :angry:

Please send her home in the quarters Sveta :pray:

as she has proven time and again, serena need not the protection of a top 8 seeding...

She does if she meets Justine in the r16 :angry:

serena & justine in the quarters or in the final, in the end it's who wins.

care to predict that outcome??... :D

In the r16 Justine 64 64

In the quarters Justine 62 46 75

In the final Serena 62 62 B)

Now see why I want that seeding :P

A good run here should see Serena make it past Safina whose runner up points will come off (I can't see her repeating that performance) & Chakvetadze since she should go further than her. And she has a shot at moving past Hingis who will be losing 300 points.

Actually thinking about it - being seeded 9-12 won't affect Serena's chances of meeting Justine until the QF's anyway.

The way the draw works the 9-12 seeds are drawn to meet the 5-8 seeds in the 4th round so Serena can't meet Justine until the QF's even if she doesn't sneak into the top 8.

Oh I didn't realise they still did it like that, guess no need to worry then :phew:

Apparently Ivanovic has withdrawn from Rome :o :(

So she won't be gaining any extra points....

Congratulated Ana on another thread which seems to have vanished... no harm in doing it twice anyway :clap: :yahoo: :wub:

She did get a bit lucky at Berlin, but she also showed the ability to win tight matches which I hadn't seen much of from her recently. Hopefully this can propel her into a more prominent position in the women's game; she's leapt a long way up the rankings which must be a huge confidence boost for her.

It won't be at Rome though... like has already been stated, Ana has withdrawn due an ankle injury - apparently sustained in the final, which makes her ability to grind that one out even more impressive. She now plans to rest in order to be fit enough for the French Open:

"I'm really disappointed that I have to pull out of this tournament, especially because I missed it last year. Also I was in good form after this win in Berlin, so it's frustrating that I cannot play. The pain is too much. I'm very sorry to anyone who was hoping to watch me play. Unfortunately this is all part of tennis! I am definitely looking forward to playing here next year.

"Now I have to rest, have some more treatment and make sure I am fully fit to play in Paris."

I like Ana she seems really nice and down to Earth, her interviews are always good to read :D