retire in her next match against Dominika Cibulková, as she renewed an injury from the beginning of the season. Despite that, Serbia beat Slovakia in the deciding doubles rubber, 3–2. Ivanovic lost to Bethanie Mattek-Sands in first round of Madrid, after winning first set with bagel. Ivanovic headed to Rome and was up nine games to love after Nadia Petrova retired. Ivanovic lost in next round to Yanina Wickmayer in three sets. Ivanovic again lost after first set at love, to Johanna Larsson in first round at the French Open. Ivanovic had a slight resurgence in Birmingham, reaching the semifinals, but lost to Hantuchová in three sets. Ivanovic lost to Venus Williams in the second round at Eastbourne. Seeded 18th at Wimbledon, Ivanovic brushed aside Melanie Oudin and Eleni Daniilidou before falling to Petra Cetkovská. After Wimbledon, Ivanovic hired Nigel Sears, the head of women's tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association, as her coach. In Stanford, Ivanovic fell against Japan's Ayumi Morita in her opening match. Seeded 5th in Carlsbad, she avenged the previous week's loss by beating Ayumi Morita in straight sets despite trailing 0–5 in the second set. Ivanovic then cruised into semifinals. She eventually fell against top seed Vera Zvonareva in three sets. In Toronto and Cincinnati she won a total of three matches but against qualifiers. Seeded 16th at the US Open, she defeated Ksenia Pervak, received a walkover from Petra Cetkovská and beat Sloane Stephens in straight sets before falling to eventual finalist Serena Williams. She also played alongside fellow countryman Nenad Zimonjić in the mixed-doubles competition for the first time, but fell against Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Chan Yung-jan in two sets. During Tokyo Ivanovic recorded victories in straight sets over Anastasia Rodionova and wildcard Laura Robson, before losing to Maria Kirilenko. At the China Open Ivanovic beat Kimiko Date-Krumm, Svetlana Kuznetsova and world No. 3 Vera Zvonareva, losing total of ten games. But she then retired in second set against Agnieszka Radwańska in the quarterfinals due to a back injury. Ivanovic received a wild card to play the Tournament of Champions, which she defended, beating Roberta Vinci, Nadia Petrova and Anabel Medina Garrigues in the final, capturing her 11th WTA title. It was the first time she had ever defended her title in a tournament. 2012: US Open quarterfinal and Fed Cup final Ivanovic began her season in Brisbane where she was defeated in