Ana produced one of her best performances of recent months as she eased past Russian Nadia Petrova in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. The Russian retired while trailing 6-0, 3-0.
Although Ana was on court for just 37 minutes, she showed huge signs of improvement following herdefeat to Bethanie Mattek-Sands in Madrid last week.
The 23-year-oldimmediately stormed ahead of Petrova, hit seven aces and took full advantage of every below par delivery with a flurry of blazing return winners. She claimed the first set without dropping a game, and with a healthy first serve percentage of 67.
After Ana earned a double break to storm ahead in the second set, Petrova called the trainer onto court. She decided to concede immediately due to a left hip strain.
13th seeded Ana's victory sets up a second round clash with Belgian world No.24 Yanina Wickmayer on Wednesday. It will be the first meeting between the pair.
"I'm very happy with this performance," said Ana.
"I served very well and was positive throughout the whole match. This is exactly the kind of performance I was hoping for, although it's never nice when your opponent retires. I hope she is okay."
