Coin cashes in, bounces Ivanovic from U.S. Open

Aug 29, 2008 - 6:19 AM FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Julie Coin made an incredible statement on Thursday.

The 25-year-old Frenchwoman defeated top-seeded Ana Ivanovic, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, in a stunning second-round upset at the U.S. Open.

Ivanovic's departure marks the earliest exit from this tournament by a top seed since 1968.

"I was nervous going onto the court because I never saw (Coin) play before, so I didn't know what to expect," Ivanovic said. "I thought I can slowly get into the match, and she played completely different than I expected.

"She was serving extremely well and hitting very powerful shots."

Ranked 188th in the world, Coin recorded eight aces and benefited from 34 unforced errors by Ivanovic to bounce the Serb from the tournament.

"I really struggled and made too many unforced errors, and my serve was not working really well," Ivanovic said. "Obviously, it's very frustrating, because I know I can play so much better.

"This was very, very disappointing loss for me, but it's something that I have to accept, especially with everything that has happened in the past probably month or two months. I couldn't expect myself to maybe even play better."

Although she improved to just 19-18 this season, Coin played like a seasoned champion Thursday at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Conversely, Ivanovic's play left much to be desired as she double-faulted at key moments of the third set.

But Coin admitted that she was a bit anxious when she was serving for the match.

"Well, yeah, yeah, I did kind of (get nervous)," she said. "I was hoping (to put) my first serve in, and then I missed it and I was like, 'Oh, shoot.' I have to put the second serve."

Hampered by a thumb injury that kept her out of the Beijing Olympics, Ivanovic did not look too impressive in her first-round match before pulling out a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Russian Vera Dushevina on Tuesday.

The 2008 French Open champion, the 20-year-old Ivanovic is one of three women - along with Jelena Jankovic and Maria Sharapova - to hold the top spot in the rankings since last year's U.S. Open winner, Justine Henin, retired in May.

"Obviously if you would ask me at the moment if I'm playing like a No. 1, probably not, but I can't judge too much on that because I really haven't had chance to practice," Ivanovic said.

"This kind of loss I had today is just incentive to work harder, to go back on the court and to keep working hard and practicing and improving."

Coin's next opponent is No. 32 Amelie Mauresmo of France, who rallied for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 triumph over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.

Serena and Venus Williams both disposed of their second-round opponents at the U.S. Open just as easily as their first.

Seventh-seeded Venus needed less than an hour to dispatch Paraguay's Rossana De Los Rios, 6-0, 6-3, in the year's final major championship, while No. 4 Serena cruised past Russia's Elena Vesnina, 6-1, 6-1, in just 58 minutes.

Seeking her eighth major championship, Venus did not face a break point and converted four of the eight she had en route to the easy victory.

De Los Rios had no answer to the power of her opponent, who won 81 percent of points on her first serve and cracked 17 winners.

"I think I just had a lot more power than she did today," Venus said. "She plays a game where she hits a lot of high balls. ... I think it would be effective against a lot of players, but with my height and my reach, it doesn't phase me as much. I think that helped me."

Up next for Venus is No. 27 Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine, who defeated German Sabine Lisicki, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, on Thursday.

The 26-year-old Serena seemed to be playing at half speed in this match, especially in the second set, where she took a 5-1 lead but missed an easy winner on her first match point.

She jumped up and down as if to reprimand herself for a lack of concentration and eventually battled through two deuces to close out Vesnina under the one-hour mark.

"Not too many long rallies but serving pretty well," Serena said of her play Thursday. "I think that's one of the main keys to my game."

Serena next will take on the 30th-seeded Ai Sugiyama of Japan, who ousted Belarus' Olga Govortsova, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. A matchup with Venus would come in the quarterfinals.

"She's pretty much relentless," Serena said of Sugiyama. "I better be ready. That girl is a tough cookie."

The American sisters, who each have won this hardcourt event on two occasions, also cruised past their overmatched opening-round opponents.

An eight-time Grand Slam singles champion, Serena ousted Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-1, 6-4, on Tuesday. Venus posted a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Samantha Stosur of Australia.

Russian Dinara Safina, the sixth seed, continued to build off the momentum of her silver-medal performance at the Beijing Olympics when she defeated Italy's Roberta Vinci, 6-4, 6-3.

Safina, who has yet to make it past the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open, improved to 34-4 since May. However, she still thinks there is room for improvement.

"I think it still could be better, especially I was 4-1 up in the first set and then I let it go to four-all," Safina said.

"I was lucky that I hold my serve, because it was 15-30 on second set and I served well there. But still, I think there is much more room that I can play better."

No. 9 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon who defeated Colombia's 19-year-old Mariana Duque Marino, 6-0, 7-6 (7-3).

Russian Nadia Petrova, the 19th seed, also advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Tapei's Su-Wei Hsieh.

Two seeded players fell Thursday, including No. 20 Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic, who was ousted by France's Severine Bremond, 7-5, 6-3. Thirteenth seed Agnes Szavay of Hungary was eliminated by Italy's Tathiana Garbin, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.

No. 16 Flavia Pennetta, No. 17 Alize Cornet and No. 18 Dominika Cibulkova were the other seeded players to advance.