Ivanovic vows to recover after shock exit

NEW YORK: Shaken world's top women's tennis player Ana Ivanovic vowed a rapid recovery after suffering an historic US Open defeat, becoming the first women's top seed at the event to crash out in the second round.
 
The Serb's ranking atop the WTA table is also in danger after she went down in a flurry of errors to unfancied frenchwoman Julie Coin 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
 
Defeat in just under two hours marked the first time in the post-1968 era that the top woman in New York has exited before the third round. Ivanovic duplicated the 1966 second-round exit of Billie Jean King at Flushing Meadows.
 
"I was nervous going onto the court because I never saw her play before, so I didn't know what to expect," said the French Open champion. "I thought I can slowly get into the match. She played completely different than I expected, serving extremely well and hitting very powerful shots."
 
Ivanovic conceded that she "really struggled".
 
"I made too many unforced errors, and my serve was not working really well. It's very frustrating, because I know I can play so much better," she said. "I have to put some hard yards on the court and go back out there and work hard."
 
Coin, 25, a 188th-ranked qualifier playing in her first match at any elite level, was overjoyed even after fluffing her first match point with a nervous double-fault.
 
But the US university graduate knows the win will buy her only as far as her third-round clash with French tennis icon Amelie Mauresmo.
 
"I felt nervous at the beginning, and then it went away," said Coin.
 
"I don't know how I did it. I am not thinking about anything right now, just enjoying the moment. I don't realise yet that I have beaten the number one in the world. I don't realise that I played at the big court. I don't know how I'm going sleep tonight."
 
Men's top seed Rafael Nadal crushed US qualifier Ryler De Heart 6-1, 6-2, 6- 4.
 
James Blake and Mardy Fish followed Andy Roddick with wins into the third round, in a continuing revival for home players at the US Open.
 
Blake, the ninth seed who struggled for five sets in his opening match to subdue teenaged Donald Young, caught a break when Belgian Steve Darcis retired, trailing 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 with a back problem.
 
Blake, never a consistent performer at the big events, has been trying to bottle the magic he showed as he knocked Roger Federer from the Olympic quarter-finals this month before losing his last two matches and coming home without a medal.
 
The soon-to-be-married Fish advanced over Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to follow best friend Roddick, who won his opening match Wednesday.
 
Seeds kept up a hot pace at Flushing Meadows, with Spain's number four David Ferrer, number six Andy Murray and number 10 Stan Wawrinka all moving through.
 
Ferrer beat German Andreas Beck 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).
 
Murray put out France's Michael Llodra 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (9-7), while Olympic doubles gold medallist Wawrinka secured a straight-set win of the week over US player Wayne Odesnik 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.
 
Beijing Olympic silver medallist Dinara Safina sees room for improvement in her near-flawless current game after swamping Italian Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-3.
 
"I think it still could be better, especially I was 4-1 up in the first set, and then I let it go to 4-all," said the Russian, who has reached the finals in six of her last seven tournaments including the Olympics and the French Open.
 
Five-time Wimbledon winner Venus Williams, seeded seventh, set the pace in her family as she hammered Rossana Del Los Rios of Paraguay 6-0, 6-3. Her sister Serena was equally devastating, 6-1, 6-1, over Russian Elena Vesnina.