Ana Ivanovic of Serbia ended her title drought which stretched back two years by defeating Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-1, 6-2 in the final of the WTA Generali Ladies Linz on Sunday.
“Winning again after two years is so wonderful, just unbelievable,” Ivanovic said. “I have been waiting so long for this and I worked hard to achieve it.”
It was the ninth overall title for the 22-year-old former No. 1, who won her last title at the same event in 2008 after capturing the championship at the French Open and becoming the top-ranked player in the world for 12 weeks.
Ivanovic, now ranked No. 29, made it to her first final in 19 months. She had reached four semi-finals this season but failed to make the finals in any of them.
Ironically, Ivanovic had not even planned to play in this event, but accepted a late wild card after Serena Williams of the USA pulled out because of a lingering foot injury.
It was a convincing win for Ivanovic who dominated the match from the start. She was broken once, but won all three of Schnyder’s service games. Schnyder won just five points on serve.
Ivanovic raced to a 5-0 lead in the second set when Schnyder broke her and then held serve for the only time in the match. She closed out the win with an ace on her second match point.
Ivanovic didn’t drop a set all week, and wrapped up the final in just 47 minutes.
Schnyder, who has 11 career titles, was playing her third final in Linz. The Swiss also lost the 2005 and 2007 finals.
