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Ivanovic suffers early exit in Kremlin Cup

08/10/2008

Ana Ivanovic has been knocked-out of the Kremlin Cup in the second round by unseeded Slovak Dominika Cibulkova.

The fifth seed has struggled for form since winning the French Open title in the summer and has suffered a series of embarrassing defeats.

The loss to Cibulkova added to that list after she was beaten 3-6 6-2 7-6 (7/5).

Ivanovic performed well in the first set, needing just one break of serve to move ahead in the match.

However, Cibulkova was equally dominant in the second set, breaking the former world number one twice to force a decider.

Ivanovic had two match points on Cibulkova's serve in the tenth game of the third set but failed to convert.

Having saved those break points Cibulkova then broke Ivanovic and served for the match at 6-5 but she also could not take advantage of her opportunity.

In the tie-break Cibulkova managed to forge ahead 6-4 and eventually won the match when Ivanovic's return went wide.

In the first round of the tournament eighth seed Anna Chakvetadze joined Ivanovic as another big name to be knocked out early on.

The Russian lost to teenager Caroline Wozniacki who came from a set behind to beat Chakvetadze 2-6 6-1 6-4.

Elsewhere, Olympic champion Elena Dementieva progressed to the quarter-finals of the competition after beating Katarina Srebotnik 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7/2).

The third seed was forced into a nervy tie-break in the deciding set. However she managed to win the final five points to book her place in the last eight.