grass-court season at the Birmingham Classic as the defending champion. She failed to defend her title, losing in the second round to Michelle Larcher de Brito in three sets despite serving for the match in the third set. Ivanovic entered Wimbledon as the seventh seed. She easily beat Xu Yifan in the first round in straight sets but then lost in the second round to Bethanie Mattek-Sands in straight sets. In late July, she went back to working with former coach, Nigel Sears. Ivanovic began her summer hard-court season at the Rogers Cup where she was seeded fifth. She beat qualifiers Olga Govortsova and Polona Hercog to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2006. She lost to eventual champion, Belinda Bencic in straight sets. Ivanovic then played at the Western & Southern Open where she was defending finalist points. After receiving a walkover in the second round from Venus Williams, she beat Sloane Stephens in three sets to set up a rematch of last year's final against Serena Williams in the quarterfinals which she lost in three sets despite being up a set and a break in both the second and third sets. Ivanovic next played at the US Open as the seventh seed. She lost in the first round to Dominika Cibulková in three sets. Ivanovic began her Asian hard court swing at the Toray Pan Pacific Open. As the defending champion, she beat Camila Giorgi in the second round in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals where she lost to Cibulková in straight sets. Ivanovic's next tournament was the Wuhan Open. She easily beat both Alexandra Dulgheru and Madison Brengle to advance to the third round where she lost to Garbiñe Muguruza in three sets. Her next tournament was the China Open. She beat Casey Dellacqua to advance to the second round, where she defeated an in-form Venus Williams in straight sets, winning the last six games of the second set in a row after going down an early break. She followed up the win by beating Kuznetsova and Pavlyuchenkova to advance to the semifinals where she lost to Timea Bacsinszky in three sets. The loss ended Ivanovic's chances to qualify for the WTA Finals. She then played at the BGL Luxembourg Open. After beating Heather Watson, she lost to Alison Van Uytvanck in three tight sets. Despite not qualifying for the WTA Finals,