Ivanovic Opens Grass Campaign in Winning Fashion

No.2 seed Ivanovic was pushed by Daniilidou early, as the two players traded breaks once en route to a tie-break; but the Serbian teenager held up well and tucked away the first set, then cruised through the second set on the strength of two breaks of serve. She never even faced a break point in her four service games in the second set.

"It was a very tough match for me; my first grass court match of the season and she has won this tournament before," Ivanovic said. "I was a bit passive early on but I adjusted and began attacking more. I was happy to win the tie-break and then I kept it up in the second set. I expected a tough match coming in."

Ivanovic is coming off a breakthrough clay court season, in which she not only took home her third career title at the Tier I event in Berlin (and subsequently cracked the Top 10), she made a Cinderella run to her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros, beating Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova en route.

She says she was able to recover from the busy streak in the week since then.

"I went home a few days to relax, which was tough because there were people everywhere! I practiced for a few days on hardcourts in Barcelona after that just to get a rhythm again; they had artificial grass, but I felt hardcourts were more similar. Then I came here and had some time to just relax and do some reading."

Although she has made a name for herself mostly on other surfaces, Ivanovic's grass court prowess can't be underestimated. She boasts third and fourth round results in her only two previous Wimbledon appearances, and her big serve and ground game will definitely come in handy on the quick, slippery surface.

"I think I can do well on grass. My serve is more powerful and I've been working on my volleys. I'm playing more aggressively and I'm just enjoying each match now. But now more players are more motivated to beat me, so it'll be tougher. I am confident going into Wimbledon, though. I like the way things are going."

Joining Ivanovic in the quarters are No.3 seed Chakvetadze, who beat Francesca Schiavone, 64 76(3); No.8 seed Alona Bondarenko, who downed Roberta Vinci, 76(4) 63; and Flavia Pennetta, who beat qualifier Tatjana Malek, 60 64.

Winning first round matches were No.4 seed Dinara Safina, who completed her victory over qualifier Camille Pin, 63 57 63; No.5 seed Daniela Hantuchova, who ousted Olga Poutchkova, 62 61; Germany's Angelique Kerber, who downed Chan Yung-Jan, 36 63 64; and American Meilen Tu, who beat Kaia Kanepi, 57 62 75.

The Ordina Open doubles draw continued to pan out, with No.2 seeds Janette Husarova and Meghann Shaughnessy and No.3 seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual winning first round matches but No.4 seeds Gisela Dulko and Tu going out of the draw after Dulko withdrew with a viral illness.

Wednesday is another packed day at 's-Hertogenbosch, highlighted by Safina taking on defending champ Michaella Krajicek in a rematch of the 2006 final. No.1 seed Jelena Jankovic will also begin her Ordina Open campaign, taking on Tu. (WTA)