UAE Royals' Ivanovic happy to return from injury

Singapore, Dec 7 (IANS) After returning from a lengthy injury lay-off, Serbian star Ana Ivanovic is satisfied with her performance despite tasting defeat in an International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) tie here.

Having joined UAE Royals for the Singapore leg of the IPTL, the former World No.1 went down to Kirsten Flipkens of Indian Aces here on Tuesday evening.

"It was my first match after a long time and it was quite challenging so I hope I can improve little by little in the next few matches," Ivanovic was quoted as saying in a statement on Wednesday.

It has been a long layoff for the winner of 15 WTA titles, who pulled the plug early on her 2016 season to recover from a recurring wrist injury after the US Open and has now made a return to the courts for the first time in three months.

Ivanovic struggled for most of her match against Flipkens as the Belgian woman was unstoppable with her strokeplay.

The 29-year-old, however, is not too bothered with the defeat and is happy to be back on the court.

"It's lovely to be back in Singapore. I have really nice memories from here, specially from 2014," Ivanovic, who qualified for the WTA Finals two years ago and competed at the Singapore Indoor Stadium that is playing host to the IPTL second leg this week, said.

The former World No.1 and 2008 French Open champion had missed the first leg of the IPTL in Japan.

Ivanovic was a part of the Indian Aces team that won the inaugural IPTL tournament in 2014. She moved to the UAE Royals for the second season and joined the Emirati side on Wednesday.

Swiss star Martina Hingis is the other woman player in the UAE Royals squad.

--IANS

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