World number one and defending champion Serena Williams had an easier time in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open in Rome on Friday after she swept past Zhang Shuai of China 6-1, 6-3 in a match that lasted an hour and nine minutes. Up next for the American is Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic.
The upcoming semifinal match between Williams and Ivanovic will be highly anticipated considering that in their last meeting at the Australian Open 2014 fourth round, Ivanovic produced an upset and scored her first career victory over the American. Williams will certainly be looking forward to avenge that defeat.
“I think it’s a different match on a different surface,” Ivanovic said of the upcoming match. “Both of us have a clear style of game and it kind of depends on the surface, but no matter what, it’s going to be a tough match. She has won a lot of tournaments on clay and she plays very well on every surface.
“She has done a lot for women’s tennis. It’s always challenging to face such a good player.”
“Whenever you play someone you lose to you’re not necessarily thinking about revenge, you’re thinking, ‘I really want to win because they beat me last time,'” Williams said. “It’s more motivation than anything, because last time they got the best of you, and you want to show them you can play too.
“So I won’t necessarily be going for revenge tomorrow, I’ll be going for the match.”
