It was a marquee match-up - Ivanovic the 2008 French Open champion and a former World No.1, Kuznetsova the 2009 French Open champion and a former No.2 - and both had played impressively all week en route to the quarterfinals. But Ivanovic dominated the head-to-head coming in, not only leading the overall head-to-head, 8-3, but leading their head-to-head at WTA tournaments by an even bigger margin, 8-1 (two of Kuznetsova's wins came in Fed Cup play).
By history and by ranking, Ivanovic was the favorite.
The first two sets couldn't have been more different. With two of the best forehands on tour going to battle, it was Ivanovic who played far cleaner early on, winning six of seven games from 2-0 down to take the first set, 6-3. Kuznetsova rebounded very well, though, cruising through the second, 6-2. It was in the third set where the mental battle really began. For eight games in a row neither player could break - they both had break points, but neither could seal the deal - it was in the ninth game of the third when Ivanovic finally pounced, breaking for 5-4, a chance to serve out the match - she did.
While there were definitely streaks of better play from both players, overall Ivanovic was more aggressive and more consistent. She finished the match with a -6 differential of winners to unforced errors (33 to 39) while Kuznetsova finished the match with a more dubious -14 differential (17 to 31).
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