The 2014 Ana Ivanovic tennis season officially began with the start of the 2014 ASB Classic event in Auckland and ended with the 2014 WTA Finals. Ivanovic entered the season as the number 16th ranked player and wasn't defending champion at any tournament.
However, during the season, Ivanovic reached second Australian Open quarterfinal after reaching final in 2008. In the fourth round she pulled off the biggest surprise by beating world No. 1 Serena Williams, who was clear favourite for the title and snapped Serena's 25 match winning streak all the way. Despite losing in early rounds of other three Grand Slams, Ivanovic had great season marked with the most WTA match wins of all players at 59 (officially 58, because WTA doesn't count matches in Fed Cup which are in lower round than World Group II, and Ivanovic won one match against Simona Halep in World Group II Play-offs), winning four titles and finishing the year as number five, her third top 10 season and first since 2008. It was the first time that she won 4 titles in a season and never won more matches in a season than this season. She also had 10 wins over top 10 ranked opponents during the season, the most she had after 2007 when she had 14 wins.
Year in details
Australian Open series
ASB Classic
Ivanovic started season playing in Auckland, ranked 16th and was seeded 2nd there. She rolled to her first final on outdoor courts since 2009 Indian Wells Masters, beating Alison Riske, Johanna Larsson, Kurumi Nara and Kirsten Flipkens all in straight sets. Ivanovic was on course for one more easy win when she was 6–2, 5–3 up against former No. 1 Venus Williams in final, but Venus then won four straight games to equal result. Ivanovic broke soon in third set, and closed out later third set with 6–4. This was her first title on outdoor courts since winning 2008 French Open, as all of her four titles in the span came in season-ending series on indoor hardcourts, and it was her first title since 2011 overall.
Australian Open
Coming to Australian Open with first title since 2011, Ivanovic looked as she brought good momentum from the first moment on. She was seeded 14th and was set in line for a clash with world No. 1 Serena Williams in fourth round, tough some though opponents were standing between that match. Against not high-ranked opponent Kiki Bertens at 93, but future Slam semifinalist, Ivanovic had though battle before eventually winning, as she broke in both sets when returning at 5–4. Next opponent was German Annika Beck, and despite her much better rank placement than Bertens, Ivanovic lost just three games and it could be even easier as she was serving at 6–1, 5–0 but lost next two games.
In third round she played against 17th seed Samantha Stosur, who doesn't have much success at her home soil, but is always dangerous opponent as a former US Open champion. Stosur was even positive in their matches at 4–3. Ivanovic started badly, but from 3–5 and set point for Stosur, when line judges called double fault and Ivanovic had successful challenge, she continued a lot better, and despite losing eventually that set in a tiebreak, she lost just six games in next two sets.
She then set expected clash with Serena, who was on a roll with 25 match winning streak dating from August 2014. Ivanovic started better, breaking in fifth game of a match, but lost next service game at love. A few games later, and Ivanovic's sudden larger amount of unforced errors gifted Serena first set. But as the match continued, she became more and more confident in her service games and also put more pressure on Serena's, and soon she repeated first set, when breaking in fifth game. But this time she saved it in next game, then had a chance for one more break for 5–2, but however broke at even better moment for 6–3 in second set, because she then served first in decider. At 1–0 for Ivanovic in third set, she broke one more time at love, winning all four points with stunning returns. Players held their service games to the end of the match, which meant that Ivanovic eventually won, 4–6, 6–3, 6–3. It was the biggest surprise of the tournament, especially because of Serena's 4–0 record against Ivanovic before the match, and of course because of her great form, which allowed her opponents to beat her just 4 times in 2013.
However, despite that big win against Serena, Ivanovic looked already in next round as she had much more pressure of eventually winning title, and she succumbed to all of that when she lost to 30th seed Eugenie Bouchard in quarterfinals, though she was better in first set and won it, but from that moment Bouchard was leading every moment, breaking always first and eventually winning, 5–7, 7–5, 6–2. But in addition to her pressure, double fault on a set point for Bouchard in second set says much itself. Despite heartbreaking loss, especially because of chance for winning title as there was no more Serena and Maria Sharapova in the draw, she had great tournament for the Slam, as it was her first Aussie quarterfinal since reaching final in 2008, and just second Slam quarterfinal overall since winning title at 2008 French Open.
Middle East Series
Qatar Total Open
At Qatar Total Open, she followed hard loss at Australian Open with first early exit of a season, as she lost in second round to Klára Zakopalová in three sets, after Daniela Hantuchová had retired in first round when Ivanovic rebounded from nearly lost first set.
Dubai Tennis Championships
Ivanovic was ranked 12th when Dubai Tennis Championships started, but wasn't seeded because nearly all top players came. That caused a clash in the first round against #8 Angelique Kerber. After losing the first set, she found a way to return, and in the end there was a lot of drama, as Ivanovic missed 3 match points on Kerber's serve at 6–5, and then from 5–2 in tiebreak for Ivanovic, Kerber took back both minibreaks, and then had match point herself. But Ivanovic won even three points in a row, and won 3–6, 6–3, 7–6(8–6). In next round she lost to wildcard Venus Williams, player whom she beat just a month ago in Auckland final, winning now just three games, which turned out to be the worst defeat of a season in terms of games won.
Spring hard court season
BNP Paribas Open
After receiving a bye in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells as the 11th seed, she won against Elina Svitolina in three sets, coming back two times when Svitolina served for match in the third set, eventually winning in a tiebreak, tough that serves for the match were just part of players' constant breaks from 3–3 in the final set. In the third round she lost to another rising star, Sloane Stephens, in straight sets.
Sony Open Tennis
In Miami Ivanovic returned a bit from bad results from last three tournaments where she won one match and lost second, as she brushed aside Lauren Davis in second round losing just two games, and Flavia Pennetta, newly crowned Indian Wells champion, in third round. And despite being favorite in the fourth round against Petra Kvitová, she showed once again hot and cold performance, winning first set 6–3, but subsequently losing next two sets with a double bagel.
Monterrey Open
Coming to her second International tournament of the year at Monterrey Open, Ivanovic returned to winning ways by winning the second title of the year at same category, defeating Urszula Radwańska, Aleksandra Wozniak, 6th seed Magdaléna Rybáriková, 3rd seed and former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in semifinals, and Jovana Jakšić in first all-Serbian final.
Clay court season
Fed Cup
Fresh off her victory in Monterrey, Ivanovic flew a week later to Bucharest, Romania, for a Fed Cup World Group II Play-offs tie against Romania. Playing in a team without other high-profile players from Serbia, Jelena Janković, who hasn't played Fed Cup since they reached final in 2012, her team wasn't favourite against quite solid Romania's. In first match, she played against Sorana Cîrstea, and Sorana pulled off a big upset, winning in three sets. Playing now as a non-favorite against No. 5 Simona Halep, Ivanovic made upset herself, beating her in straight sets. However, as Bojana Jovanovski lost both her matches, they were relegated to the Europe/Africa Zone – Zonal Group I in 2015, for the first time since 2008.
This was Ivanovic's seventh straight year that she competed for Serbia's Fed Cup team, and eight overall.
Porsche Grand Prix Open
Playing at first clay court tournament in Stuttgart, Ivanovic reached quarterfinals for a second straight year, after two wins against Germans, an easy one over No. 14 Sabine Lisicki and hard-fought against wildcard Julia Görges, rallying from first set blowout where she won just one game. Ivanovic continued to show why is clay her best surface, as she beat two-time Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and former No. 1 and current top 10 player at the moment, compatriot Jelena Janković. Being just one step far from winning blue Porsche prize, Ivanovic started very strong against two-time defending champion Maria Sharapova, as she cruised to 5–0 lead with three breaks. Despite having 40–30, she lost three games before eventually winning first set with 6–3. Breaking first again in the second set, she was close to a big lead when having a game point on 3–1, but double fault on that point looked as the key for the falldown which followed it, as she won just two more games to Sharapova's 11. If Ivanovic had won it, it would have been the first time in her career that she won back-to-back titles, as she won Monterrey Open previously, but however, these were even Ivanovic's first back-to-back finals.
Mutua Madrid Open
Ivanovic followed last year semifinals appearance at Mutua Madrid Open with another good one, reaching quarterfinals after comfortable wins over Madison Keys, Bojana Jovanovski and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Average games per set which she lost in that three rounds was 2,66. She fell then to Simona Halep, losing in an hour and winning just four games.
Internazionali BNL d'Italia
Continuing to match good results on clay, Ivanovic repeated her best result in Rome – semifinals. First she beat Italian wildcard Karin Knapp with loss of just two games, before having to battle hard for victory over always dangerous Alizé Cornet. In third round she gave revenge from Stuttgart final loss to #7 Maria Sharapova, cruising past Stuttgart & Madrid champion, 6–1, 6–4. The win was significant for a whole host of reasons, but most significantly she became the first player other than Serena Williams to defeat Sharapova on clay since 2011, ended her winning streak in Rome (Sharapova was 47–3 on the surface and was undefeated in Rome since 2011) and was the only player to beat the Russian on clay that year. It was also the first time since the semifinals at the 2007 French Open that Ivanovic had defeated Sharapova. She then won in quarterfinals against clay court specialist Carla Suárez Navarro in three hard sets. In semifinals defending champion Serena Williams awaited. Despite it looked at the start like her win over Serena at Australian Open was coincidence, as she lost first set 6–1, she rebounded fast and showed that it was far from that, as she broke twice for 4–0 lead in second set, and eventually won it 6–3. However, bad start to the third set gave Serena same advantage in second set, and she won it again with 6–1. At the end of the tournament, Ivanovic was however the only player to take set off Williams.
French Open