In a matchup of former French Open champions, 13th-seeded Ana Ivanovic beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3 on Monday in a windy first-round match at the Italian Open.
''It was tough out there today, but it was the same for both of us,'' said Ivanovic, who won her only major title at Roland Garros in 2008. ''I just tried to move and to adjust and really tried to look at the ball and move forward. It was difficult at times and the gusts of wind would come out of nowhere, but it was a good match.''
Ivanovic is approaching the top 10 again after a difficult stretch in her career that included four first-round losses at Grand Slam events. She attributes part of her turnaround to her coach, Nigel Sears, after they started to work together following Wimbledon last year.
''He is very calm, and I am a perfectionist and sometimes I try to do too much at the same time. And so he is very reasonable when he comes on to the court. . . . So this helps me to calm down a lot,'' Ivanovic said.
In a night match at the Foro Italico, Francesca Schiavone was defeated in front of her home fans by 39th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-4.
Makarova dictated play with a series of angled baseline winners, while Schiavone, the 2010 Roland Garros winner, had trouble finding the range for her highly technical game.
This tournament is the last major clay-court warm-up for Roland Garros, which starts in two weeks.
Twelfth-seeded Angelique Kerber rallied past Australian qualifier Anastasia Rodionova 4-6, 7-5, 6-2; and Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden cruised past 2010 champion Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3, 6-2.
