Perhaps inspired by losses to Garcia at two of her last three tournaments in Monterrey and Indian Wells, Ivanovic came out looking strong and determined to break the pattern, rallying from 5-3 down to take the first set to a tie-break, and then bringing up triple set point up 6-3 in that tie-break.
But Garcia came alive at that most critical of moments, reeling off five points in a row to sneak out the first set. She hung tough with the No.5-seeded Ivanovic to close it out in straights, 7-6(6), 6-4. "It was very tough. It was a very, very tough first round,"
Ivanovic said afterwards. "We all know this is a tough tournament, but I think maybe another first round opponent could have been better for me.
"I felt today was a fresh match because the last times we played this year were back to back, so that was kind of déjà-vu, but now I felt it was different, especially being on clay.
But it's never nice to play someone so tough in the first round. You need to work yourself into the tournament sometimes."
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