Every morning I wake up and scan through the results on the AO app on my phone and apart from a few results here and there that have caused a raised eyebrow or two, there haven’t been any massive shocks… until today that is. I still cannot believe that Ana Ivanovic has beaten Serena Williams to throw the women’s draw wide, WIDE open!

Ana Ivanovic

1. Yesterday I wrote in my preview that I didn’t think that if Ivanovic got into a winning position, she would have the mentality to come through and beat Serena.  I think that is the reason why I am most shocked by this win.  Ivanovic’s recent record at the Slams had been disappointing and I believe I am correct in saying that she hadn’t beaten a top ten player at a Slam since she triumphed at Roland Garros in 2008.  Of all the players to beat to crack that miserable record, Serena was the player I least expected it to be.

2. Credit to Serena, she is much more gracious in defeat than she used to be.  She gave Ana a lot of credit for the win…

“I don’t want to blame anything. I feel like Ana deserves all the credit. I feel she played unbelievable today. I think she went for her shots.”

It was reported that Serena was struggling with a back injury.  I have seen quotes from  Patrick Mouratoglu, who said that Serena almost pulled out of her third round match against Daniela Hantuchova.  It’s a bummer for Serena that she has been blighted with injury yet again in Australia. For the third year in a row, the Australian Open hasn’t been a happy hunting ground.  Ekaterina Makarova in 2012, Sloane Stephens in 2013 and now Ana Ivanovic in 2014.

3. BBC Sport were bigging up a news article a few weeks ago that Serena could win all four Slams this year and even in their match report from today’s match, I read…

“The reigning French and US Open champion had been tipped by some to complete the Grand Slam of all four major titles in 2014.” 

Tipped? By who? I wasn’t on the “Serena to win all 4 Slams” bandwagon.  She is an amazing player and generally speaking, has been incredibly dominant; however we have seen over the years that she is capable of throwing in the odd performance here and there.

4. The women’s draw is thrown wide open and in my opinion, it makes it much more exciting.  An Ana v Genie quarter-final is just too much! How will Ivanovic respond to this win? After a big match like this, there can be a come down, but with the draw as it is Ivanovic has great opportunities.  Right now, I am thinking Li is the favourite to make the final.  She had that tough match in round three against Lucie Safarova where she saved a match point.  Li survived and if her 4th round performance against Ekaterina Makarova, which she won 6-2 6-0, is anything to go by she’s had her scare and is gunning for a second Grand Slam title.

5. A shout-out to all the Ana Ivanovic fans out there.  They have been through so much heartache over the past couple of years, but today their loyalty paid off with this huge win.  In the polls on my women’s preview, 30% of people went for Ivanovic to win the first quarter and there were even a couple of votes for her to win.  A big thumbs up to everyone who has stuck by Ana and predicted she could beat Serena.

5. This is hilarious.

6. Did today happen? Am I dreaming?