Top Seed Ivanovic Loses at Wimbledon
Last of 12 American Men Is Ousted

By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 28, 2008

WIMBLEDON, England, June 27 -- One day after Maria Sharapova's stunning second-round defeat, Wimbledon bid farewell to top-seeded Ana Ivanovic, the recently crowned world No. 1, who suffered an upset of equal proportions.

Like Sharapova, the 20-year-old Ivanovic showed up for an early-round match Friday decidedly off form, lacking the timing, confidence and quick-footedness that's required to do well on grass courts. And China's Zheng Jie took quick advantage, engineering a 6-1, 6-4 victory by blasting powerful groundstrokes past the sub-par Serb, careful to keep the balls low and aimed at her backhand.

Zheng, ranked 133rd in the world, confessed later that she had watched Ivanovic flirt with defeat in her second-round match on Wednesday and realized then that she had a chance to beat the French Open champion.

"I didn't believe I could win [in] two sets," Zheng said, marveling at the efficiency of her 74-minute victory.

Ivanovic didn't hesitate to state the obvious afterward: Zheng was the better player.

"It's not easy to lose," Ivanovic said with a smile. "But you also have to realize that the world won't end. These things make you learn that you still have room to improve. Sometimes you need a punch to realize what you have to work on."

Also Friday, the last American man in the tournament, former Vanderbilt standout Bobby Reynolds, 25, fell to Feliciano López of Spain, 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

Twelve American men entered Wimbledon this year, but none made it past the third round -- most notably Andy Roddick, a two-time finalist, and ninth-seeded James Blake. Both were upset in the second round.

The 102nd-ranked Reynolds declined to draw sweeping inferences from the worst Wimbledon performance by American men since the Open era dawned in 1968. But the topic generated considerable buzz on the grounds of the All England club on Friday.

"What has happened with the Americans?" mused three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker, now a tennis commentator for the BBC. His partner in the broadcast booth, former British No. 1 Tim Henman, suggested that American tennis players and fans alike "have been a bit spoiled over the years."

Five-time defending Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, who eased into the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 romp over Marc Gicquel of France, was also asked about the Americans' performance and said simply that he was far more stunned by Roddick's early exit than Blake's, given their respective records on grass.

"There goes another chance for Andy at Wimbledon," Federer said.

If U.S. fans are looking for a silver lining in the rash of upsets at Wimbledon, it's that the tumult on the women's side appears to be clearing a relatively easy path for sisters Venus and Serena Williams to meet in the final on July 5.

The sisters have won six of the past eight Wimbledon singles titles and arrived this year looking healthy and fit. Neither has lost a set yet, though Serena was given a grand test by Amelie Mauresmo on Friday, at least for one set.

It was the latest installment of one of the better rivalries in the women's game, with Williams holding a 9-2 edge and Mauresmo having won most recently, at the 2006 U.S. Open.

Both are former Wimbledon champions, and both are former world No. 1s. But Mauresmo has struggled since undergoing an emergency appendectomy in March 2007, and her ranking has plunged to 33rd as a result.

Still, she played better than anticipated, clawing out of an 0-3 deficit to force a tiebreaker in the first set. Williams won it and had an easy time from there for a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory.

Up next is fellow American Bethanie Mattek, whose improbable Wimbledon run continued with a 6-4, 6-1 upset of 2007 runner-up Marion Bartoli on Thursday.

"Obviously, she's a nice girl, and I normally would like to see the best for her," Williams said of Mattek. "But clearly, I want to win, too."

Until this week, Mattek has been known primarily for the wild and often revealing outfits she wears on court. She has been fined for some get-ups (a cowboy hat at the U.S. Open) and ridiculed for others (tiger-print hot pants). But for her third Wimbledon appearance, Mattek decided to bow to convention a bit, choosing a low-cut white tank dress with a blousy top and a skirt fitted as tight as a sausage casing.

"I'm still outgoing, like to show my personality," said Mattek, 23. "But I really wanted to have my tennis come through. That's why I've kind of toned down some of my outfits for this tournament."

Mattek had her hands full with Bartoli in the first set. The Frenchwoman isn't particularly athletic, and her reach is sharply limited by her two-fisted groundstrokes on both sides. But she hits with impressive pace and smacks the ball at maddening angles.

But Bartoli's fighting spirit disappeared when her right shoulder started hurting. She took two medical timeouts late in the first set and succumbed quickly once play resumed.