PARIS — Even though Ana Ivanovic had won a title at Roland Garros and was ranked in the top 10, there was little reason to think she would be in contention through the middle weekend of this year’s French Open.
Ivanovic, a 27-year-old from Serbia, finished last year ranked fifth, but a toe injury she sustained in January had derailed her progress. She had won only two of the five matches she had played on clay this year entering this tournament.
Still, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, the seventh-seeded Ivanovic reached the quarterfinals of the French Open for the first time since she won the tournament in 2008, beating ninth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.