Top seed Ivanovic survives match points at Wimbledon 2nd round

Top seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia survived a couple of match points before beating Nathalie Dechy of France 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3) and 10-8 in a second round thriller at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

The world number one, fresh from her triumph in the French Open, looked tentative but survived for the narrowest of victories so far in the tournament in three hours and 24 minutes.

Ivanovic confessed her lucky when she survived one match point on a net cord. "I couldn't believe it, I was so lucky," said Ivanovic.

"One second I thought I won because the ball stayed on the net for just a tiny bit," said Dechy, who has not won back-to-back matches on the tour all season.

"I didn't see clearly if it was going on my side or on her side. Then I saw. There's maybe somebody in the sky who help her on that one. It's why this sport is so difficult but so beautiful at the same time," said the Frenchwoman.

In the opening set, Ivanovic led 3-0 but lost her serve twice before Dechy captured the tiebreak 7-2.

In the second set, Ivanovic looked to be in control and had three break points for a 4-1 lead. Then Dechy leveled the match and had two match points at 5-4. But Ivanovic fought back to win the second tiebreak 7-3.

In the final set, Ivanovic swept into a 4-2 lead. But Dechy clawed her way back to 5-5 and then survived two match points at 6-5 before finally succumbing 10-8.