Ana Ivanovic is out of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham after losing to Portugal's Michelle Larcher De Brito.  The Serb, who was looking to defend her crown, fell in three sets to the qualifier.

Much was expected of Ivanovic in this year's tournament, the number two seed came into the tournament on the back of some solid form and a semi-final appearance at the French Open, where she lost to Lucie Safarova.  Larcher De Brito, meanwhile, had had to navigate several rounds of qualifying where she had defeated two seeded players.  Having been defeated in the final round of qualifying in last week's AEGON Open, Larcher De Brito had already gone beyond her expectations by reaching the second round. 

Larcher De Brito performs above herself 

And early on, the Portugese player played with the freedom of a woman who knew that she was the underdog, stiking the ball freely and pouncing on the errors of Ivanovic.  Throughout the match, these errors came thick and fast, with three double faults in her first two service games setting the tone for the day.  And it would Larcher De Brito who would pounce first as she raced quickly into a two-break lead to take the first set.

Ivanovic was looking edgy, serving poorly and failing to convert a string of good chances, but was able to play her way back into the game off of the back of some nervy hitting from her opponent, as she was gifted a break in the second set and was able to take it into a decider. 

There, Ivanovic looked to have finally settled and flexed her superiority over her much lower ranked opponent.  Securing a break midway through the set, with the tension beginnig to rise, Ivanovic stepped up to serve for the match at 5-4.  However, as so often happens, her serve completely fell apart and allowed Larcher De Brito to level the tie. 

No further breaks followed and the players found themselves thrown into the tense arms of a final set tiebreak.  From the off, Ivanovic stumbled and handed all of the momentum to her opponent, who nervoulsy obliged.  It was a disappointing way for Ivanovic to kick off the grass court season, and an even worse way for her to defend her title.  Larcher De Brito, meanwhile, will look to take her form from the first and third sets into the third round.

Results 

M Larcher De Brito (Q) d. A Ivanovic (2) 64 36 76( 6) 

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About the author
Jack Haugh
Freelance sports writer, specialising in tennis.