Ana Ivanovic is looking forward to starting her grass campaign at the first Mallorca Open with a win over Pauline Parmentier. Last year, the Serbian suffered an early exit in her only grass event prior Wimbledon at Birmingham when she lost in her opening match. As for Parmentier, she didn’t play a grass event except for Wimbledon last year.
2016 Results
The former world number one has had a tough year, she has only reached one semifinal at St. Petersburg where she lost to the eventual champion Roberta Vinci in straight sets. Aside from that result, the Serbian hasn’t won more than three matches in a tournament which implies that Ivanovic is far from her best in 2008 or even in 2014. She suffered a disappointing loss at the Australian Open to Madison Keys and lost in the third round of the French Open against Elina Svitolina.
It’s a different story for the 83rd ranked player; she has had a better year than Ivanovic. She didn’t qualify for the main draw at the Australian Open but reached the third round at the French Open where she lost to Timea Bacsinszky. At Monterrey, she fell to Caroline Garcia in the quarterfinals, then the Frenchwoman would reach an ITF final at Croissy-Beaubourg. Parmentier would get to the semifinal at Katowice but lost to Dominika Cibulkova. The good results continued as she made it to the quarterfinal at Rabat losing to the fifth seed, Timea Babos.
A look at the draw
Whoever wins this match will face Sara Sorribes Tormo or Paula Badosa Gibert, both from Spain. In the quarterfinals is most likely that their opponent could be Caroline Garcia. At the semifinals, they could either face recent French Open champion, Garbiñe Muguruza. If they get through that tough round they could potentially face former Wimbledon champion, Eugenie Bouchard or grass specialist Sabine Lisicki.
Head-to-Head
Ana Ivanovic leads the series having won their three encounters in straight sets. The last one was in Monterrey last year in the second round, Ivanovic was the defending champion that year. Prior to that meeting, they played each other at Linz in 2014. The three times they have met, they’ve played on a hard court which makes this meeting the first on grass.
Match Analysis
On paper, the favorite is Ana Ivanovic but it wouldn’t be rare to see some people rooting for the Frenchwoman, especially since Ivanovic has been playing matches that were supposed to be easy for her. Parmentier has never taken a set from the Serbian, but it’s important to remember this is a match played on grass a surface where Ivanovic hasn’t had the best results.
Ivanovic is known as an aggressive player who prefers to play from the baseline. It’s not a lie that she is not the same player she was in 2008, her form has declined and her results haven’t been ideal for a former world number one. It’s not like the Serbian changed something in her style of play, but she lacks confidence in many of her matches. However, this shouldn’t be taken as a sentence as she is a fighter. On the other side of the court, Parmentier has nothing to lose as she will come into this match as the underdog. Just like Ivanovic she is an aggressive baseliner, but a point for the Frenchwoman could lie on her serve which she qualifies as one of her best shots.
The Serbian also possesses a good serve but lately she’s been having problems with her toss which causes many double faults, however, if she has a good day her serve could be a key for her to win this match. Both players share the same weakness and the same strength, their backhands are usually a liability, but their forehands could be their best shot. For Ivanovic, most of her arsenal relies on her forehand which has been named as one of the best in the game.
In terms of movement, both players need to work on their footwork and that could lead to complications if they were to play an all court player with a wide variety of shots. Nevertheless, that is not the case in this match as both have problems with movement and volleys, so this match will most likely be played from the baseline. A weak spot for Ivanovic could be her lack of deep and that is something Parmentier has to attack if she wants to take control of the points.
While the Frenchwoman could be a tough opponent for an Ivanovic who’s not in her prime, it does not seem that the Serbian will lose her opening match as she not only has more experience but her shots tend to be more precise.
Prediction: Ana Ivanovic in straight sets