Sportmaster International

Ivanovic looked out of sorts from the start

Ivanovic, who became top seed when Justine Henin pulled out, was never comfortable on the clay and committed 59 unforced errors to Pironkova’s 26.The Serb twice surrendered a break advantage in the second set.”I really struggled with my intensity today, and that obviously caused a lot of errors,” she said.Last week Ivanovic lost to Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals of the German Open, but Pironkova, who beat Venus

Williams at the 2006 Australian Open, ensured an earlier finish for her this week.The Williams sisters both progressed on Wednesday, fifth seed Serena thrashing Alona Bondarenko 6-2 6-0 and Venus, on her return from a month out injured, overcoming Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-1.Venus had been out for a month with an unspecified medical problem, which she would still not discuss in detail.Defending champion Jelena Jankovic beat Flavia Pennetta 6-1 6-4, in the Italian’s second match of the day, after she had earlier beaten Olga Savchuk in three sets.