ANA IVANOVIC IN HER FIRST GRASS COURTS FINALS @ AEGON CLASSIC IN BIRMINGHAM ENGLAND

Written by: Staff on 14th June 2014

ANA IVANOVIC IN HER FIRST GRASS COURTS FINALS @ AEGON CLASSIC IN BIRMINGHAM ENGLAND

<> during day six of the Aegon Classic at Edgbaston Priory Club on June 14, 2014 in Birmingham, England. |

Tickets are sold out. #Rally4Bally to take place after the finals. Please donate and retweet.

Ivanovic bids for first grass-court title

Top seed Ana Ivanovic will be bidding for the first grass-court title of her career on Sunday when she takes on Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the Aegon Classic singles final in Birmingham.

Ivanovic is a former Roland Garros champion and has also been a runner-up at the Australian Open but she admits that she would love to add a title on grass to her otherwise glittering resume.

“It would mean a lot for me to have a title on grass,” said Ivanovic after beating China’s Shuai Zhang 6-2, 6-2 in the semi-finals on Saturday. “It’s been ‑ not to mention my age ‑ but ten years on tour and I never have title on grass. That would be definitely something special.”

Zahlavova Strycova ended Casey Dellacqua’s run in singles with a 7-6(5), 6-1 victory. “Ana is a great player. Such a champion. She was No. 1 in the world, and I expect it to be very challenging and I’m looking forward for this,” said the Czech. “It means a lot to me to be in the final. But I don’t want to talk about it like it’s done. It’s not done. Tomorrow is another day.”

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.

Tickets for Sunday are already sold out. A packed schedule begins with the Aegon Classic doubles final between Americans Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears and Australians Casey Dellacqua and Ashleigh Barty followed by Ivanovic versus Zahlavova Strycova. The day will end with the Rally For Bally exhibition match, which is being held in memory of former British No.1 and Aegon Classic competitor Elena ‘Bally’ Baltacha, who died in May.

Tim Henman, Anne Keothavong, Martina Navratilova and special guests will play to entertain the crowd and raise money for the Rally For Bally fund. Similar matches are being held on Sunday at the Aegon Championships in London and at the Aegon International in Eastbourne. All proceeds from the fundraising effort will be split between the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and the Elena Baltacha Foundation, the charity attached to Baltacha’s tennis academy, which helps children from all backgrounds learn to play tennis.

Fundraising for the Rally For Bally is via www.justgiving.com/RallyForBally. Please use Twitter hashtag #Rally4Bally.

Tickets for the final of the Aegon Classic 2014, including the Rally For Bally, have been sold out since Friday this week. For more information about the tournament, please go to www.aegonclassic.co.uk

To find a playing partner, a local court or coach, register at www.allplaytennis.com.

For more information on the Rally For Bally, please click here.

• The Aegon Classic is upgraded to a WTA Premier 600 event in 2014 with prize money of over $700k

• 2014 is the 33rd staging of this WTA event in Birmingham which has been won previously by Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Maria Sharapova and Li Na.

• The LTA has invested £5 million into a £12 million redevelopment project at Edgbaston Priory Club to encourage wider participation and grow community access to tennis in the Midland’s, as well as securing the venue as a prominent international venue for racquet sport, attracting world class players to Birmingham and bringing vital business for the local economy.

• The 2014 Aegon Championships is one of three ATP & WTA grass court tournaments staged and run by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) in the run up to The Championships, Wimbledon.

• The Lawn Tennis Association’s (LTA) mission is to get more people playing tennis more often, and its role is to develop, promote and govern tennis in Britain.

• To find a playing partner, local court or coach please visit www.allplaytennis.com

• Aegon is Lead Partner of British Tennis and is helping to transform the sport in this country. They’re supporting young talent through the Aegon FutureStars programme, as well as sponsoring the junior and senior GB Davis and Fed Cup teams and amateur and professional events. Aegon sponsor three world-class grass court tournaments; the Aegon Classic, Aegon International and Aegon Championships and will also sponsor the new WTA and ATP events in Nottingham from 2015. For further information visit www.aegontennis.co.uk

• For more information on the LTA and British tennis, visit: www.lta.org.uk

Topics: AEGON Classic, Ana Ivanovic, Birmingham, Casey Dellacqua, Elena Baltacha, Rally For Bally, Tennis, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

June 14, 2014 at 1:29 pm

ANA IVANOVIC IN HER FIRST GRASS COURTS FINALS @ AEGON CLASSIC IN BIRMINGHAM ENGLAND – http://t.co/rAMzQXClKn #AegonClassic @AnaIvanovic
RD_Tennistalk says:

June 14, 2014 at 5:07 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: ANA IVANOVIC IN HER FIRST GRASS COURTS FINALS @ AEGON CLASSIC IN BIRMINGHAM ENGLAND – http://t.co/rAMzQXClKn #AegonClassi…