Ana Ivanovic is in love, with the tennis net!

ANI

London

Thu, 26 Jun 2008: 

London, June 26 (ANI): Just when Ana Ivanovic thought that she was about to kiss Wimbledon goodbye, the ace tennis place made a lucky escape, thanks to the luckiest of net cords at match point.

 

The top seed staged an amazing comeback in a 3hr 24min marathon against Dechy.

 

But it needed the lkiest of net cords at match point in the second set to save Ivanovic.

 

After clinching a 6-7 7-6 10-8 victory, Ivanovic, 20, thanked her stars and raced to plant a kiss on the net.

 

"I kissed the net because I felt so lucky. If it wasn't for that net I'd be booking my flight back home," The Sun quoted her, as saying.

 

"I've never had a stroke of luck like that in a match. It was amazing. Someone upstairs made the ball roll over," she added.

 

World No. 1 and French Open champ Ivanovic was praying for divine intervention after losing the first set tiebreak on Court One, having squandered a 5-2 lead.

 

And she was looking down the barrel as she served at 4-5 down in the second set.

 

The Serb rescued one match point with a forehand winner before hitting another forehand. And the ball hit the net tape, paused, and rolled over.

 

Ivanovic went on to level the contest on a second tiebreak to set up a decider.

 

French star Dechy, 29, said: "The net deserved a kiss. I thought I'd won, as it stayed on the net for just a tiny bit.

 

"Then I saw. I was, like, gee there's maybe somebody in the sky who helped her."

 

Ivanovic added: "The ball hit the net and it was in the air for a couple of seconds. It was moving away, so I thought it may go out." (ANI)