Wimbledon 2014: Ana Ivanovic continues to show strong form on grass

Serb in 6-4, 6-0 victory over China’s Zheng Jie

Ana Ivanovic of Serbia celebrates after winning her Ladies' Singles second round match against Jie Zheng (GETTY IMAGES)

Ana Ivanovic had never reached a grass-court final until she won the title at Edgbaston earlier this month, but after winning the Aegon Classic she is maintaining her form here. The 27-year-old Serb, who has always believed that she can do well on grass, went through to the third round with an emphatic 6-4, 6-0 victory over China’s Zheng Jie, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist.

Ivanovic’s best run at the All England Club was in 2007, when she beat two top 10 players in Nicole Vaidisova and Nadia Petrova before losing in the semi-finals to Venus Williams, the eventual champion. Her best efforts since then have been two runs to the fourth round, which were ended by Williams in 2009 and by Victoria Azarenka in 2012. Last year she fell to Eugenie Bouchard in the second round.

The Serb’s form in recent weeks reflects her general progress over the last year. She has reached four finals in 2014, winning three of them, and in the last 12 months has regularly played in quarter-finals and semi-finals. However, it is six years since she won her only Grand Slam title at the French Open.

Ivanovic said it had been so long – also six years – since she was world No 1 that she could not even remember it. “It’s definitely been a slow, slow climb back,” she said. “I feel like I have been playing a lot of matches and had a lot of good victories this year, but the rankings didn't really show that, which was a little bit hard to take. You put in so much hard work and yet you're dropping in the ranking list.

“Actually, I'm sure it will take care of itself later in the year. I don't try to think too much about that. I really try to do my work on the court, to win the matches that I should, and to improve in each match. Then the rankings take care of themselves.”